Overtraining syndrome: burned athletes

The practicing physical exercise produces both psychological benefits as physicists. But, in some cases, hacer sport can also be counterproductiveBecause anything taken to the extreme can be harmful.

The addiction to physical exercise is one of those phenomena that has attracted the attention of psychologists, but so has the Staleness or Overtraining Syndrome. This syndrome has been observed more in athletes, although not exclusively.

Overtraining Syndrome causes a decrease in the athlete's performance

As we saw in the article on the runnorexia, excessive physical exercise can lead some people to severe addiction. In contrast, in other cases excessive physical training can lead to the opposite, for example: feelings of fatigue, lethargy, loss of vigor, insomnia, depression etc., and this is what happens in the Staleness.

Together with these symptoms, the Overtraining Syndrome (SSE) is characterized by a decrease in the athlete's performance, caused by stressors that are a consequence of overtraining and lack of proper recovery

to. Other extra-sports stressors (social, labor, economic, nutritional, etc.) also favor the appearance of this syndrome.

Overtraining Syndrome is associated with prolonged and / or excessive training and inadequate recovery

The sports planning correct is very important because it allows the athlete to adjust to the General Adjustment SyndromeIn other words, it allows the athlete's body to adapt to training and the stimuli that cause stress (physical, biochemical or mental).

Therefore, good planning contributes to increasing athletic performance, and the alternation between work and rest allows a sufficient recovery and an improvement in the physical qualities of the individual.

Overtraining Syndrome: the Burnout of athletes

Any training session is liable to cause a state of (acute) fatigue, but notor should acute fatigue be confused with Overtraining Syndrome, which refers to a chronic and generalized fatigue and, in addition, presents psychological symptoms, such as emotional fatigue, apathy or depression.

The mechanisms of acute fatigue depend on the duration and intensity of exercise, but when fatigue is prolonged, it is produces a serious decrease in sports performance, accompanied by a set of physiological and psychological symptoms of exhaustion. In many cases, this can cause the abandonment of sports practice.

Some authors use the term in Burnout or "Be burned" (most used in the workplace) to talk about Staleness, since both are characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal fulfillment.

Symptoms of Overtraining Syndrome

Many studies have been carried out to provide information on Overtraining Syndrome, and it has been concluded that the symptoms described so far vary according to the subject.

All in all, the American Physical Therapy Association (American Physical Therapy Association) has established a series of symptoms that occur frequently when an individual suffers from Staleness. It is important to note that not necessarily all will appear. Symptoms of Overtraining Syndrome are as follows:

• Physical and Physiological: increased blood pressure and increased heart rate during rest, breathing problems, temperature high body, hypotension, weight loss, loss of appetite, increased thirst, gastrointestinal problems and pain muscular.

• Immunological: vulnerability to infections (especially of the respiratory tract) and reduction of the body's defenses, decrease in the ability to avoid injury, decreased speed of healing, decreased production of red blood cells (increased tiredness).

• Biochemicals: increased cortisol (stress-related hormone), adrenaline, serotonin, increased blood fatty acids in plasma, decreased muscle glycogen, hemoglobin, iron, and ferritin.

• Psychological: mood disturbances (for example depression), lethargy, anxiety and irritability, decreased motivation, lack of concentration, low tolerance to stress, low self-esteem and lack of confidence, loss of libido, sleep disturbances, and feelings of exhaustion (physical and emotional).

The importance of psychological indicators in diagnosis

So much for the psychopathology as for the sports psychology, Stanleness arouses a lot of interest. Psychological indicators turn out to be very important for diagnosis.

Previously, apart from the decrease in sports performance, other physiological variables had been suggested as possible markers of this syndrome, for example decreases in heart pressure or elevations in the level of cortisol. These markers, however, have not been shown to be reliable markers.

Over time, experts have realized that the best indicators for this syndrome are psychological or psychophysiological. A very useful and widely used tool in the world of sports and physical training is the Profile of Mood States (POMS)”.

A questionnaire that assesses the following emotional states: tension, depression, anger, vigor, fatigue Y confusion. The normal population tends to score lower in negative emotions (confusion, fatigue, etc.) and higher in positive (vigor). This is known as an “iceberg profile”. In contrast, people with SES score inversely.

Unlike physiological markers, the POMS tool is less expensive, scores are easy to obtain, and determination is not invasive. So that becomes an ideal tool for the diagnosis of Staleness.

Causes and consequences for the body of SES

Due to the complexity of this phenomenon, looking only at physiological factors would bias this condition. The causes of Staleness and the damage it produces in the body are still not entirely clear.

Neurological factors

According to the Armstrong and Van Hees model, the hypothalamus appears to have an important function, because it would activate both the Sympathetic-adrenomuscular axis (SAM) that involves the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system, and the Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPA). It is not the objective of this article to explain this model, as it can be quite complex.

Now, as an idea, it is important to understand that neurotransmitters would play an important role in this syndrome. For example, the serotonin, which seems to play a very important role in Staleness.

Psychological and physiological factors

Regarding the body's immune response, another complementary model seems to indicate that due to excess training, lack of rest and other factors that favor the appearance of the syndrome (for example psychosocial stress or psychological problems of the individual), what is known as “Cytokine model " of Smith.

This model affirms that excessive and prolonged training coupled with other causes, would increase the number of cytosines as a result of injuries to skeletal muscle, bone and joints caused by overtraining. These changes are related to a depression of immune function and can put the individual at a higher risk of experiencing infections and diseases.

Treatment of Overtraining Syndrome

The treatment should be used on the different symptoms that the patient presents, and usually begins with the physical appearance, treating the physiological symptoms. Once the physiological symptoms have been treated, psychological symptoms can be addressed, which require the presence of a psychologist. Regain control over sleep hygiene and a proper diet are also very important.

Regarding physical training, and despite the fact that some specialists propose total suspension of physical exercise, it seems to be more effective an adequate regulation of the same and not the suspension total. Input, regenerative endurance work is important, through swimming, cycling or jogging. Gradually, volume and intensity should be increased, and there should be an adequate relationship between progressive training load and recovery.

Bibliographic references:

• Kellmann M. (2002). Underrecovery and overtraining. In: Enhancing recovery, preventing underperformance in athletes. Champaign (IL): Human Kinetics, 1-24.
• Palmer C. and Mitchell J. L. (2015). When (or how) do the Olympics become 'stale'? Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics, 18 (3), 275-289.