Can exercise age you faster? Read on here about what impacts too much exercise can have on your body.
Unquestionably, exercise is necessary to keep young & fit, but can too much exercise negatively affect your body?
Does Exercise Age You Faster?
No one is immune to the natural process of aging. Though exercise is an elixir for health and a great way to look younger, most people don’t know that the wrong way to do exercises can actually speed up aging, so better if you know your limits.
The Face
Long-distance runners usually look skinny, and most plastic surgeons say running is a leading cause of premature wrinkles after sunbathing and smoking. Fitness Buffhq says, “Running is not good for the facial tissues.” He says further: “All that pounding up and down causes shearing forces of the skin against the bones to loosen everything, so you get the slack jowls and neck. The runners not only end up with saggy breasts, but they also get a slack faces.” Fitness Buffhq advises limiting running to less than 25-30 miles per week and not more than 2 sessions. Cycling is a better way of exercising than running to make you look younger with improved muscle tone and circulation.
The Bones
Undoubtedly, weight-bearing exercises are linked to improved bone strength but doing too much can have an adverse effect. Intensive aerobic training has been found to be linked with a fall in bone density in women due to resulting low levels of estrogens (also called estrogens)
This is especially a potential problem for ballet dancers and child gymnasts, where too much training and low body fat in childhood can delay the onset of periods or in athletes who train to such an extent that their periods stop. On the other hand, at moderate levels, the decrease in estrogen that occurs as a result of exercise is generally beneficial – leading to a lesser risk of PMS and a lower risk of breast cancer.
The Knees
Though running can help prevent arthritis, there’s a limit. A British Medical Journal study in which 2,049 Finnish athletes participated showed that sports and endurance athletes had a higher incidence of osteoarthritis because of increased wear and tear of their joints. So, the BMJ’s advice is to treat your injuries to prevent premature osteoarthritis. If you experience any knee or joint pain, see a physio.
Sports scientists say: “Overtraining syndrome” is a problem not only in Olympic athletes but in domestic sports people as well.” In the US alone, it is believed that ten percent of college swimmers “burn out” every year.
“Overtraining syndrome” is a type of chronic fatigue and is linked to inadequate rest periods and intensive workouts. This explains why sprinters are less likely to suffer from it, as they typically train with large amounts of rest.
Symptoms include loss of appetite, fatigue, depression, increased anxiety and irritability, sleep problems (in more than ninety percent of cases), and frequent minor infections.
Overtraining increases cortisol levels and suppresses the immune system.
Fitness Buffhq advises anyone suffering from the above symptoms to take a break: the only known cure is rest, but athletes who neglect to do that generally find they take six to twelve weeks to recover from chronic fatigue.
The Heart
Regular running can reduce your risk of heart disease by fifty percent, but do it too much, too soon, and it can be lethal. An American study showed that heart attacks and strokes triggered by strenuous workouts have trebled since 1980.
The trick is to increase cardiovascular demands gradually. For example, your blood pressure can upsurge more than double during intense exercise. So it would help if you made your body adapt to these changes gradually. Otherwise, the arteries are put under sudden, immense pressure, which can trigger a heart attack or stroke.
The Takeaway
Fitness Buffhq advises:
- Exercise is the key if you want to stay young & healthy.
- Too intensive & too soon exercise sessions are more likely to cause injury, especially if you’re a senior person.
- High-impact training is a potential risk of joint damage over time.
- Low-impact workouts such as biking, lightweight training, resistance band exercises, and stretching are great options if you want to ward off the effects of aging and keep looking young.
About Author: Renu Bakshi, AKA Fitness Buffhq, is ISSA Certified Elite Trainer. He 
passed Personal Fitness Trainer Course, Nutrition Health Coach course & Specialist Exercise Therapy course from ISSA, the USA, obtaining + 97% marks. He shares his experience and knowledge about nutrition and effective workouts to get you in the best shape of your life, no matter how old you may be. The author says: “For me, age is just a number!”
