Too much exercise? In a world where the words ‘workout’ and ‘fitness’ are revered, which is filled with lazy couch potatoes, is there such a thing?

[the_ad id=”6157″] Most of us know keeping active is crucial to our health and happiness. So it’s not surprising that making exercise a regular habit is a key to healthy lifestyle. 

In most cases, exercise is a healthy activity. However, like anything else, it can be dangerous when done to excess. Exercising too much can put you at risk for a variety of serious health problems. Over-exercise can be as harmful to your health as no exercise.

The things that can happen to you if you over exercise –

• Over exercise without a complementary hike in nutrition, can lead to a loss of lean-based muscle mass by forcing your body to use up its own muscle tissue for energy. This can cause your metabolism to drop, making you prone to weight gain.
• The risk of injury to ligaments, tendons, joints and bones magnifies due to the gradual wear and tear of the muscles and joints.
• You may experience a drop in hormones (estrogen in women and androgens in men). Women may also develop a condition called amenorrhea, which is the cessation of their monthly periods.
• Too much exercise also weakens the immune system, leading to frequent infections and illnesses and even an increase of inflammatory processes in the body.
• Sleeping patterns are affected, as too much adrenalin kicks in and dehydration and electrolyte imbalance may set in too.
• Muscle cramping, heart palpitations, nausea, vomiting and dizziness are all signs that you need to stop exercising and drink water.
• Excessive exercise often results in stress, which results in excessive production of the hormone cortisol, which in turn leads to fat storage in the abdominal area.

Abdominal fat is a high risk factor for multiple health problems. Burnouts that make you go off exercise completely after pushing yourself too much are also very common.