WHEN EXERCISE IS NOT SAFE: ARE YOU DOING THE RIGHT THING?

We often assume that exercise is good for us, no matter what. Advertisements, television shows and social media sites all continually promote the idea of movement being beneficial – to do more cardio, lose weight and increase our energy levels. However, at what point does exercise become harmful? How do we know when to stop? Is the media to blame for body-dysmorphia? Emily-Rose explores the idea of building our awareness around exercising safely – how much is too much? How can we listen to our bodies more?

Pilates and mobility training are currently trending in our ever-increasingly health conscious society. Alongside dieting, veganism and non-alcoholic spirits becoming mainstream; the push to increase our exercise is widely abundant in our current lifestyles. With many devices on the market to count our steps, a myriad of apps to practice our favourite sports, and influencers at every angle displaying the benefits of a regular workout, it’s no wonder we are feeling overwhelmed by the push to exercise more. However, is more necessarily better?

Thinking of the purpose of exercise can help to frame these curiosities in a coherent light – if we know why we are doing a particular workout routine or taking a class, we can then work out how much we need to do to fulfill that particular goal. For example, we may need to reduce our BMI, improve our circulation or to help us heal after an injury. Often, an appointment with a sports therapist, physiotherapist or GP may help us to define our exercise goals – but what happens if we are not working with a particular health issue? What happens if our goal is simply to maintain a healthy body and mind?

A useful approach may be to have a one-to-one session with a personal trainer – this support may help us to define and create goals that fit our lifestyles, as well as looking at our personal anatomy and they may offer advice on healthy eating too. A personal trainer will assess your current fitness levels and design a tailored programme that works with you and your body. Other options include joining a gym or wellness centre and talking to professionals there to determine what type of exercise may be suitable for you. Once you have established a routine that works with your own body type, this can provide some reassurance that you’re on the right lines.

The rise in popularity of strength and mobility training and Pilates may not be a problem per se, however problems may arise through competing with others and as a result, an increased risk of injury. Are we choosing competition over caution? Knowing the point at which exercise becomes dangerous is an important consideration. Learning how to listen to our body is paramount to knowing when to stop. The stopping point is different for all of us, so there is no definitive answer.

Many of our lifestyles encourage this constant pushing, especially when we are time poor. The Heart Research Institute states in an article that: ‘exercising when you are completely overworked or run down may be doing more harm than good and may put you closer to a disease state and falling ill.’

This means it is even more important to listen to our bodies when we may be approaching burnout, or feeling stressed. When we are overworked, this creates more stress on our immune system and therefore makes us more susceptible to disease.

When does exercise get dangerous? When we don’t listen to our bodily cues for rest and pause, we may cause damage and injury. The key difference here is between eustress and distress. Eustress is a form of ‘good stress’ that keeps us motivated and arises when we face positive challenges. However, distress occurs when we take things too far – we may over-work the body, pushing ourselves beyond our natural limitations and not giving ourselves adequate time to rest. If we exercise, we must make sure to rest and recover properly. ‘Rest and recovery is all about giving the body time to repair, rebuild, and strengthen itself between workouts.’ (UC Health).

Other key factors involved in exercising well are giving ourselves a good night’s sleep; this is because most of our muscle repair happens during sleep. If we skimp on our sleeping time, our body may be more susceptible to injury. So rather than pushing ourselves at the gym to combat burnout, a proper rest would be more nourishing longer term.

The solution to all of this is finding an appropriate balance point – to focus less on social media and aesthetics if it is compromising our health and instead to focus on a functional approach – how do the workouts feel in our bodies? How do we feel afterwards? Are we having adequate rest? Are we eating a nutritious diet? Are we exercising at the right time of day?

A further tip is to build little elements of exercise into our day – there are several things we can do throughout our day to boost our heart health and overall wellbeing.

Some ideas include doing desk yoga exercises while at work, walking and cycling to work, getting off the bus a stop earlier in order to walk the rest of the way, choosing to take the stairs instead of a lift or escalator and engaging our gluteal muscles when walking. After all, the key really is ‘little and often’ to maintain our health, and to make sure to rest well afterwards.

Emily is a specialist in Yoga and health. Read her other articles via her profile. Your vote below is appreciated too.