Too Much of a Good Thing: The Risks of Too Much Exercise

24.09.24

It’s common knowledge that including movement and exercise in our lives is important. There are many benefits to exercising including improved mood, more energy, better sleep, and better overall physical health by lowering your risk for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, and arthritis (to name a few!).

So, something that is this good for us, can’t be bad …. can it? Unfortunately, it’s not that straightforward. Yes, exercise is good for us, however, like a lot of things, exercising in excess has its consequences.

When Exercising Becomes Excessive

Exercise levels are considered excessive when the activity is impacting on daily functioning. For example, when exercising is impacting work or other activities, or when exercising is being completed at an unsuitable time. Also, exercise levels are considered excessive when the individual continues to engage in exercise even when they have injured themselves or are experiencing other medical complications. Another red flag can be that the person feels extremely distressed when they are not able to engage in exercise according to their usual routine.

Some other indicators of excessive exercising include:

Being unable to maintain your level of exercise performance
Feeling more tired overall
Taking longer to recover from your workouts – feeling sorer, or being sore for longer than normal
Difficulties with your mood – whether this is feeling low, more irritable, or experiencing mood swings
Difficulties with sleep
Difficulty concentrating
Injuries – for example, strains, stress fractures, or tendon injuries

Long-term Consequences of Excessive Exercise

Exercising to the extreme can have serious long-term issues, such as damage to bones and muscles, changes in metabolism, and reproductive issues. Excessively exercising can also be considered life-threatening if you are not eating enough to compensate for your energy output, which can be the case when excessive exercise forms part of an eating disorder (read more about this here). Therefore, if you are aware you exercise in large amounts, and especially if you have experienced heart palpitations, chest pain, fainting/collapsing, or dizziness, it is highly recommended you book a consultation with your GP to discuss this further.

So, How Much Exercise is a Good Amount?

There are a lot of factors that come into play when working out how much exercise is a good amount. Such factors can include your age, if you are pregnant, if you have a chronic condition, or if you are living with a disability. These have all been considered by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and their guidelines on recommended exercise amounts, so read more here if you are curious. But, in general, WHO recommend the following exercise guidelines as a baseline for an adult aged 18 to 64:

Regular physical exercise
150 to 300 minutes of of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity per week (e.g., a brisk walk, golf, riding a bike, or pushing a lawn mower). Or, 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity per week (e.g., running, skipping, hiking up a hill, or tennis)
Muscle strengthening activities at a moderate or greater intensity on at least two days per week (e.g., lighting weights, working with resistant bands, pilates)

Start to Make Change

There is hope! There are things that you can do to start introducing change into your exercise routine. To help manage your expectations, remember that when introducing change to a regular routine, this may increase feelings of distress. This is understandable, as a routine can become our place of comfort, and bringing change into this is scary and different! The trick is to start small.

Some ways you can start to introduce change could be:

Self-reflection Exercises

It’s important to increase our awareness of how much our exercise routine may be impacting our lives. This can be hard to do, as usually there is a purpose or function behind the excessive exercise routine (e.g., to assist with managing emotions, or to help us feel in control). Self-reflection allows us the space to explore this. You can start by asking yourself the following questions: “How is your exercise regime impacting other areas of your life?” “What are some of the short-term benefits and consequences of maintaining the exercise routine?”, and “What are some of the long-term benefits and consequences of maintaining the exercise routine?”.

Take a Break

Start by introducing a day of rest and recovery per week. This allows time for your body to rebuild itself after working out. Taking a day off to recover helps combat all the consequences of excessive exercise – such as helping with muscle fatigue, lowering the risk of injury, and helping with performance (Depending on how long you have been excessively exercising, you may need to take a longer break to be able to fully recover).

Review Your Energy Input

Your body needs energy to perform and recover, so, it’s also important to evaluate what you are eating to make sure your body has enough energy.

**Bring in Change to How You Exercise**

You might want to consider changing how you are currently exercising. Some ways to do this might be thinking about decreasing the time/intensity/amount you are doing, changing the type of exercise you do (e.g., from cardio and weightlifting to tai chi), decreasing the number of competitions you engage in, or start to exercise with family or friends making it more a social event rather than about the exercise itself.

Making Change is Easier with Support

If you have any concerns about your exercise use, it’s highly recommended to book a consultation with your GP. They will be able to discuss your exercise level on an individual basis and look at your circumstances, as well as do any testing needed to investigate this from a medical perspective.

Research has also indicated a relationship between people who excessively exercise and people with an eating disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or certain personality traits (e.g., perfectionism, neuroticism, narcissism). Therefore, a range of different professionals can be involved in the treatment of excessive exercise including a psychologist, psychiatrist, dietician, or physiotherapist.

A psychologist can help provide strategies to manage difficult thoughts, feelings, and other behaviours that may arise from engaging in excessive exercise or making changes to your exercise routine. If you feel like you would benefit from talking to someone about this further, you can reach out to our support team today. Our team of psychologist are highly trained in a variety of different therapies to assist with excessive exercise.

If you would like to read more about over-exercising, this article in the Guardian is a candid and brutal personal account of an exercise addiction and eating disorder. You can also read more about setting healthy routines here.