Over the past decade, there has been a steep rise in the health and wellbeing industry. This has had a ton of positive impacts, and people are chatting openly about their health and fitness (which we love). Exercise is awesome, and being mindful of our diets and eating habits can greatly benefit our health.
However. Like anything when taken to extremes, obsessing over our fitness and our diet can be both unproductive and, ultimately, dangerous for our health.
Given societal pressures and scrutiny into the female body in particular, and the avalanche of images and ‘lifestyles’ we are fed on social media daily – it’s not wonder health can tip towards the unhealthy.
So what is overtraining? Well, this one is pretty self-explanatory. When we exercise beyond the body’s ability to recover, we push ourselves too hard and it can result in both physical and mental burnout.
Rest and recovery is a hugely important part of fitness, and we need to take it seriously. When we exercise, we rip micro tears in our muscles and rest (and protein) is how these heal – allowing our muscles to build and grow.
So what happens when our bodies don’t get the rest period they need to rebuild our muscles? We can’t heal, our muscles don’t grow and our training starts to go backwards. At some point, we get so exhausted from pushing ourselves harder, and not seeing the results we crave, we give up altogether.
Pretty rubbish, right?
If you’re worried about this, here are some red flags to watch out for.
Feeling tired and repeatedly lacking energy, despite adequate sleep.
Finding you’ve less strength, endurance, or flexibility in workouts.
You keep getting hurt and having minor injuries (and you’re still not letting your body rest)
You feel moody, depressed or suffer from mood swings.
Struggling to get to sleep, or stay asleep (particularly if exercise has been an aid to sleep in the past).
Missed periods (amenorrhea) or hormonal imbalances.
Be aware of your body, be mindful of how working out – and NOT working out – is making you feel. If you find yourself getting obsessive, or feeling distraught if you miss a session, especially if you tell yourself you have to ‘make up for it’ next time, talk to us. Or talk to a friend. Get some advice, and support, and be kind to yourself (always).
Orthorexia is less well known, although is become more and more talked about in this day and age. Essentially, orthorexia is an obsession with ‘perfect’, ‘clean’, or ‘raw’ eating to the point where it negatively impacts your mind and body health.
Now, healthy eating in and of itself isn’t a bad thing, but being flexible is an important part of protecting your mental health. When we fixate on what we eat – in ANY form – our eating can develop into a problem. Like overtraining, it’s the obsession that is the danger.
So, how can we look out for this and keep ourselves safe?
Here are those red flags.
Spending excessive time thinking about, planning, or analysing your food choices (if you’re still beating yourself up days later, it’s not good for you).
Missing out on social events and meet ups with friends due to fear of ‘unhealthy’ food options, and not being in control.
Putting foods into ‘good’ or ‘bad’ categories, to an extreme degree.
Feeling guilty, ashamed, angry or embarrassed after eating foods perceived as ‘unhealthy’, or ‘bad’.
Significant weight loss or nutrient deficiencies
Any form of self-punishment; feeling you need to starve yourself, or ‘burn off the calories’ by hitting the gym, or doing cardio.
It can be quite scary to think about, and we’re not here to fearmonger, but we’re here to look out for one another, and to provide you with all the information we can to support and encourage your mind and body health.
Both overtraining and orthorexia can impact multiple dimensions of our health.
Physically, you can put yourself at risk of injury, weaken your immune system, lose bone density, play havoc with your hormones, lose periods and, ultimately, impact your fertility.
Mentally, you risk anxiety, feeling isolated, and the potential for developing increasingly severe disordered eating.
Socially, rigid routines, inflexibility, and obsessive behaviours risk putting a strain on the relationships we have with those around us, as well as potentially impacting our work and other hobbies.
Again, be mindful, be conscious of how your feel. Use a variety of ways to measure progress. Prioritise rest days, and work them into your routine.
We’re here to help if you need us.
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