Exercise is a great way to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Whether it’s through workout classes, going for a jog or taking up yoga with a friend, working out is essential for staying in shape.

There is such a thing as exercising too much, which in turn can be bad for your body. Too much exercise can increase the risk of injury, burnout, exhaustion and depression. We’re here to discuss just how much exercise is too much, and well as provide some background on the symptoms of over exercising and how to prevent it.

What causes people to over exercise?

Over-training can result in lower endurance and decreased bone density, which can happen to marathon runners and body builders, or any adults who participate in high-performance sports. Those training for a specific event like ultra-marathons, can certainly experience over-exercising. A few other reasons people may exercise too much are stress, to compensate for issues like depression, or starting a new, rigorous exercise program too quickly.

Symptoms of over-exercising

• Anxiety or depression
• Ongoing fatigue
• Joint or muscle pain

If you experience moderate-to-severe joint pain during exercise, you should stop immediately. If you’re not doing a joint-taxing workout when you feel joint pain, then you could have inflammation in the joint or joint damage. In that case, you may need treatment. Remember that if you have mild-to-moderate pain before working out, that is often typical when you begin any kind of exercise movement. Start with gentle range of motion movements as you get started to improve circulation around that joint.

How to prevent over-exercising

It’s a good idea to alternate the type of workouts that you are performing, in order to avoid pushing the body past its usual limit. This will help the body to recover between workouts. Take it slow when you begin a new exercise program, and gradually build up to more intense workouts over time.

Lastly, make sure that exercising is something that is a healthy form of motivation for you. Don’t let it define who you are as a person or your self-esteem.

This article was adapted from Virtua. Read the full article here.

If you have any questions about juvenile arthritis or arthritis in general, please contact Campbell Clinic to meet with a physician. For more information about Campbell Clinic, please visit our website.