What is overtraining syndrome and what are its symptoms?

Fitness and health is important. Today there seems to be a greater awareness of this aspect, and physical exercise is even in fashion, but as with everything, too much can carry certain risks.

Increasingly, people complain of extreme exhaustion, the causes of which derive from excessive physical exercise without sufficient rest times to recover from Body. To this is added that maintaining the muscles, the shape and exceeding the mark daily, becomes an obsession that maintains a compulsive behavior.

Therefore, in this article we will see what overtraining syndrome consists of, as well as its symptoms and main characteristics.

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What is overtraining syndrome?

Overtraining syndrome is a set of symptoms that appears due to excessive physical exercise without adequate recovery time. Fatigue, insomnia, depressive and stress symptoms are some of its symptoms.

The excess of sport together with the demands of work, family, emotional state and an inadequate diet favor its appearance.

This syndrome usually occurs in athletes or elite athletes, but sometimes people who are not professionally engaged in sport develop compulsive behavior around physical exercise, an addiction to sports that can lead to exhaustion or overtraining syndrome.

An important fact to add is that people with overtraining syndrome are more vulnerable to infection, due to the weakening of their immune system. What is positive in principle, both physically and psychologically, can be distorted if it leads to obsession. A good example of a sports addiction is vigorexia.

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Main symptoms

Let's see what they are symptoms of overtraining syndrome.

Physical symptoms

These are the physical repercussions of the Overtraining Syndrome.

• Respiratory problems.
• Hypotension
• Loss of weight and appetite.
• Muscle pains.
• Increased heart rate and blood pressure.
• Digestive problems.
• Physical fatigue.

Psychological symptoms

Among the most common psychological disorders associated with this syndrome we find the following.

• Low mood, even depression.
• Anxiety.
• Physical and emotional exhaustion.
• Low self-esteem.
• Difficulty coping with daily problems.
• Low attention span and concentration.
• Insomnia and nightmares.
• Irritability.
• Inhibition of sexual desire.

Psychological treatment

Psychological treatment addresses the causes of the onset of overtraining, that is, what have been the factors that have predisposed physical exercise to become an obsession. In this way, it is about evaluating the state of self-esteem, work and family burdens and personality traits such as overweight. demand and perfectionism, often related to the addiction to physical exercise, for its treatment throughout the therapy.

From the psychological point of view, one of the possible causes could well be, in some cases, compensation for certain deficiencies, such as unsatisfactory personal development, low self-esteem and the stress of everyday life, with physical exercise.

Treating anxiety and low mood is also essential for the person to regain self-confidence and regain motivation. Special emphasis will be placed on resuming physical exercise progressively, ensuring that its maintenance alternates with a correct physical and psychological recovery, counting on the social and personal context of the patient: work demands, family, etc. and your coping tools.

Bibliographic references:

• Asensio García, Concepción. https://www.efisioterapia.net/articulos/sindrome-sobreentrenamiento
• González Boto, René. Tuero de Prado, Concepción. Márquez Rosa, Sara; "Contributions of psychology in the study of overtraining in sport". http://www.infocop.es/view_article.asp? id = 993
• González-Boto, R., Molinero, O. and Márquez, S. (2006). Overtraining in competitive sport: psychological implications of the imbalance between stress and recovery. Magazine of Anxiety and Stress. 12 (1), 99-115.