Do you believe that a week off exercise is good for you?
“A ‘level of consistency’ is the key. You don’t have to be perfect all the time, that’s unrealistic. Things crop up and life often puts challenges in our way of routines such as injury or other demands on our time and attention. But maintaining behaviours such as frequency of exercise, even if you need or have to reduce the duration or intensity, will help you to kick back to your normal level when you are able to.”
Even a few days without exercise can have a significant negative effect on your health.
Reduce Muscle Mass: Just two days of inactivity is enough to cause muscle
wastage if you are usually active warned researchers from the University of Padova in Italy. Whilst a team from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil recently reported that five to ten days of inactivity can result in significant shrinking of muscle mass. They found that healthy adults who cut their daily step count by 75 per cent to about 1,500 steps a day lost 4 per cent of muscle mass in their legs in two weeks. After the age of about 35 we lose muscle mass through ageing but strength training and exercise can reverse of those losses.
Mental wellbeing: Physical activity is known to stimulate the production of mood-raising hormones such as endorphins and lowers stress hormones such as cortisol, with an immediate and cumulative effect. Researchers who analysed the exercise habits and symptoms of depression and anxiety in 33,908 Norwegian adults over 11 years found that 12 per cent of cases of depression were among those who did no physical activity.
Increase weight gain: If you reduce your output you will also need to reduce your calorie intake otherwise you will put on weight.
Cardio fitness plummets: Studies at the University of Liverpool have shown that cardio-respiratory fitness (the efficiency with which oxygen is supplied to muscles during activity) and mitochondrial function (the energy production of our cells, which is important for muscle and metabolic health), plummet among older adults who don’t exercise for a couple of weeks.
How to keep your fitness regime: A ‘level of consistency’ is the key. You don’t have to be perfect all the time, that’s unrealistic. Things crop up in life and other areas can take priority, competing for our time and attention. But maintaining behaviours such as frequency of exercise, even if you need or have to reduce the duration or intensity, will help you to kick back to your normal level when you are able to.