There is definitely a such thing as too much exercise-or exercise overload, as I say it. Exercising too much could affect many of your organs. If you are exercising more than two hours each day, you are facing exercise overload.

With too much exercise, a person may begin to experience fatigue. This is the body’s way of telling you to slow down. These people are more at risk for injury too, since their muscles are working overtime, and the person is most likely not stretching before workouts, and cooling down after workouts. I have also heard from several doctors that too much exercise could cause damage to your thyroid-this is a butterfly-shaped organ in your neck. Your thyroid has a big responsibility for such a small organ. It regulates everything from body temperature to muscle coordination to body weight. A too-slow or too-quick thyroid leads to problems such as heart attacks, strokes, kidney/liver damage, and muscle weakness so bad the person may need to be in a wheelchair for the rest of their life.

When people exercise too much, it is the same as any other addiction. They cannot live their regular lives, and they are not happy and relaxed unless they are exercising. Without exercise, they will feel jittery and agitated, and they feel that they are a failure if they do not exercise. Their sleeping patterns will become messy. Either they sleep too much, or they do not sleep enough. Many people with exercise overload also are bulimic or anorexic. It is all about ahving control over their bodies. They do not listen to what oters tell them-they do what they want. It has been proven that people with aesthetic careers, such as dancing, artistry, swimming, many types of sports, and, of course, modeling, are at a greater risk for this.

Many people would think that since you are exercising so much, you will lose even more weight. This is not true. What happens is that your body goes into a certain mode that does not know whether or not to burn fat, so you end up maintaing the same weight. Even if you are not eating an adequte number of calories and foods, your body adjusts to exercise overload, and the longer you do this, the longer it will take you to lose weight. Your body needs time to recuperate from exercise. Muscle soreness is one reason a person may decide not to exercise one day, but for the exercise-addicted, this does not make a difference.

Help is available for those addiction to exercise. Many websites pertaining to exercise should have some counseling groups for you, or someone you know, who may be addicted to exercise. If people want to live a healthy life, and lose weight the healthy way, they should contact a personal trainer or someone who is an expert with exercise, and get some advice from them instead of going at it all alone.

by Erin Yarrobino