Exercise not only reduces stress but physical activity improves sleep quality and increases sleep duration keeping one in deep sleep longer. According to Sleep Doctor, increased deep sleep boosts the immune system, supports cardiac health, and helps control anxiety. Early morning and afternoon exercise may also help reset the sleep-wake cycle by raising body temperature slightly, then allowing it to drop and trigger sleepiness a few hours later.
Many behaviors with over-exercising stem from societal pressure. Social media and online challenges have not helped the issue. Although we equate getting our steps in with online trackers since Fitbit’s addition to the tech market in 2008, it started in the 1960s from Japanese researcher Dr. Yoshiro Hatano. While investigating how to slow rising obesity rates, he found a simple metric of 10,000 daily steps was a balance between food consumption and calories burned.
Unfortunately, finding ways to challenge ourselves to easy tracking or fitness solutions has been amplified by FOMO (fear of missing out). When we see a friend hit steps or take a selfie at a gym with washboard abs, we want to challenge ourselves to be like them. When a young mom loses maternity weight faster than they want, they starve themselves and over-train their bodies. But Lembke states this becomes an addicting pattern.
One of the biggest signs from over-exercising is insomnia. Aiming for a healthy 8 hours of sleep is key to a successful routine so finding yourself with difficulty sleeping could be from too much exercise. Livestrong defines it as overtraining which causes a variety of symptoms including “fatigue, difficulty sleeping, or not feeling rested when you wake up.”
This symptom of insomnia or fatigue seems odd when you are trying to tell your body you want to be extra fit, but your body succumbs to joint and muscle pain due to overexertion of the body because of over-exercising.
“Overtraining exerts a negative effect on the stress hormones cortisol and epinephrine. This hormonal imbalance can lead to emotional lability, trouble with concentration, bouts of irritability, depression, and difficulty with sleep.”
