Why is Rest Important with Exercise?
Usually when you are in your fitness journey, everything can be too exciting. When you start to see little results, it can be very addicting. In a neuroscience perspective, exercise is a new activity for your neurotransmitters. That means that when you workout, there are changes that happens inside your body and these are usually good things. Exercising can seem painful at first but it eventually causes you to be happier, feel more confident and have more energy. The good effects of exercise keep people from doing it. Unfortunately for some people, it gets to a point that it becomes unpleasant. That's when a person realize that he or she is overtraining.
Rest plays a vital role in prevention of overtaining. People get too hangup with their fitness goals and forget how important rest is. Scientifically speaking, during rest good hormones are released which helps in repairing muscles. Resting also lowers down your cortisol level (As we know, high cortisol level can make you skinny fat or chances of your body producing fats or losing muscle mass). There are many scientific studies that support the importance of rest in order to have a healthy lifestyle.
Unfortunately, some have exercise anxiety. One for of this anxiety is worry about resting. People think that resting will cause them to miss out on a certain exercise which defeats the idea of a healthy lifestyle. We exercise to feel better but when it causes anxiety, it means need healthier rest habits. Proper rest is productive; too much rest is counter productive. Sometimes, people get headache when they rest too much. It is important to have quality rest as well.
Resting is very important - even God rested on the seventh day from his work.
Gen 2:2 NKJV And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
There are many ways to implement rest with your fitness routine. One is to reduce counter productive activities such as partying or excessive cellphone usage. For another instance, some people dedicate several days off a week from the gym to ensure rest periods. They can have mix of full and partial days off. There are many techniques to ensure rest is in anyone's schedule. No matter how busy you are, rest is important. There will be always ways to have rest.
In summary, exercising can cause people to be addicted to the gym which can cause overtraining. A way to prevent overtraining is by ensuring rest is incorporated with the fitness routine. Proper rest is very productive; over resting is counterproductive. There are many ways to have rest despite of a busy schedule and there should be no excuse to pay yourself some rest. Work smart by being productive. Everybody needs rest too especially after some hard work.
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About the author:
Hi my name is Jyn. I am the owner of superjyn.com. Aside from writing, I am also a certified Personal Trainer by ACTION Personal Training. I help clients with lifestyle coaching, posture correction, proper exercising and nutrition. If you have further questions about this blog post, please let me know. Resting is unique for everyone, I can help you find the best rest techniques for you. Let me help you achieve results that you have been frustrated about. You may contact me using the chat button at the corner bottom right hand side.