5 Signs Your Body Needs A Rest

5 Signs Your Body Needs A Rest

For the past 12 months, you have been working really hard on your fitness and smashing those goals. The euphoria you feel during and after exercise is exhilarating, addictive and comfortable and is now part of your day to day routine. But is it normal to workout every single day without taking a rest? No it isn’t.

Rest and recovery is an important aspect of an exercise programme because it allows the body time to repair and strengthen itself in between workouts. As an athlete, I learned this the hard way. Often times when I felt I was getting stronger and faster through training, I would push my body even harder. However, there were times when my body would not respond well to training or would ache for an uncomfortable length of time after, thus hindering my performance. This was my body telling me I needed to rest. 

Exercise creates microscopic tears in your muscle tissue. But during rest, cells called fibroblasts repair it. This helps the tissue heal and grow, resulting in stronger muscles.

Below are 5 signs that your body needs rest:

Constantly Tired Or Moody

Moodiness and fatigue are signs you are overtraining your body. It’s okay to have a snooze once in a while, but if you feel as if you’re never fully awake during the day, this is an issue.

Your Resting Heart Rate Is Elevated

Take your pulse each morning before you get out of bed to find what’s normal for you. An elevated resting heart rate is one sign of stress. Your body won’t know the difference between physical and psychological stress. A hard run and a hard day at work both require extra recovery.

Your Body Is Always Sore

Allow your body at least 24-48hrs to recover after a workout. DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) sets in 12-72 hours after exercise. If your body is sore constantly, it isn’t healing itself properly, so it goes into overdrive, resulting in excessive soreness.

Your Urine Is Dark

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Your body takes at least 45 minutes to recover from dehydration. Many of us start to exercise when we are already dehydrated. One way to tell if you are dehydrated is to use the restroom. If your urine is dark, it’s a sure sign that you need water.

You’re Unable To Relax

We all know that exercise has a positive effect on reducing those negative, depressing symptoms. However, skipping one too many rest days, can have the opposite effect.