It’s not always the case that doing more exercise is better. While it’s recommended that we exercise frequently and maintain an active lifestyle, rest days are rarely used.
A rest day is an essential component of any exercise program, wherein an individual takes a break from their normal training regimen. It helps prevent injury and provides the body with an opportunity to heal and rebuild. In actuality, without rest days, no exercise regimen can be considered effective.
Regardless of your sport or level of fitness, taking a day off is essential to grow. Ignoring rest days might result in overtraining or burnout. To put it briefly, if you want to experience steady growth, you have to occasionally rest.
But how many days off should you actually take? And what are its benefits? More importantly, is using the remote control while lounging on the sofa really necessary, or are there other options?
The beneficial effects of rest days for health are discussed in this article, along with the problems that might arise from not including rest days in exercise regimens. It also describes symptoms that point to the necessity for a rest day and proper ways to use one.
Benefits Of Taking A Break:
As with other things in life, balance is key when it comes to exercising. It’s great that you want to work out more frequently and intensely, but every fitness regimen must include downtime. Even professional athletes plan rest days and easy workouts into their weekly training regimens.
Amongst the advantages of rest days for health are:
1. Helps You Recover Better:
“When you exercise, your muscles go through two different types of stress: mechanical stress, which comes from actual physical damage to the protein structures of your muscles, and metabolic stress, which comes from depleting the energy stored in each individual muscle cell.
Your body consumes fluids (to create sweat) and breaks down its energy reserves, which are mostly carbs in the form of glycogen, while you exercise. A few studies have demonstrated that the body requires a minimum of one day to restock the muscle’s glycogen reserves.” Says Nathan Richardson, CEO of Mexico Weight Loss Surgery
Training and maintaining steady blood sugar levels depend on the muscles’ ability to store enough glycogen. Thus, rest and recuperation allow the body to restock these energy reserves.
It only takes one to two hours, according to several studies, to regain the fluids we lose through sweat when exercising. The body still needs several hours of rest after exercise to stay hydrated because of the continuous production of urine, even though it takes less time for our fluids to return.
Rest facilitates recovery from mechanical stress along with metabolic stress. Fibroblasts are cells that repair and build up muscular tissue while the body is at rest. This promotes tissue growth, healing, and strength.
2. Improves Performance:
“When you don’t get enough sleep, it might be hard to challenge yourself, let alone complete your daily tasks. For example, you might not have the motivation to finish a rep or a mile of exercise.
Pushing yourself too much reduces performance due to overtraining. You may have less energy, respond more slowly, and lack agility.
When you relax, the opposite occurs. It gives you more energy and keeps you from getting tired, setting up your body for continuously effective workouts.” Says Tiffany Payne, Head of Content at PharmacyOnline.co.uk
3. Reduces The Risk Of Fatigue:
“Muscle exhaustion results from exercise because it lowers the amount of glycogen in your muscles. Rest days allow the muscles to regain their glycogen stores, reducing muscle tiredness and preparing the muscles for the next workout.
A large number of studies indicate that rest days are also essential in avoiding overtraining syndrome. Lower performance and even a halt in progress might be caused by overtraining syndrome. Moreover, it could result in exhaustion, sadness, weight gain, and poor sleep.” Says Pareen Sehat, Clinic Director of Wellbeings Counselling
4. Prevents Injury:
“Taking regular days off from exercise is essential for your safety. You’re more prone to drop weights, lose form, or take a bad step when your body is exhausted.
Your muscles experience repetitive tension and stress as a result of overtraining. Due to the increased risk of overuse injuries, you may need to take more rest days than you thought possible.” Says Carl Panepinto, Marketing Manager at Key Person Insurance
5. Improves Sleep:
“Just as regular exercise can help you sleep better, so too can rest days. Regular exercise causes the body to produce more cortisol and adrenaline, two hormones that give you energy. The body produces hormones in excess during frequent exercise. This exacerbates your tiredness and weariness and makes it difficult to fall asleep.” Says Sumeet Johar Lal, founder of Yogic Experience
On the other hand, rest days let your hormones return to normal, which promotes a restful night’s sleep.
6. Helps You Build Long-Term Habits:
“By giving your schedule a break, you can plan your workouts around your life instead of vice versa. Maintaining that flexibility might also make your exercise regimen last longer.
If you are unable to work out on a given day, you can opt to take a rest day in its place. This will enable you to complete your workout later in the week without compromising your training regimen. This promotes the formation of healthy, lifelong behaviors.” Says Pareen Sehat, Clinic Director of Wellbeings Counselling
Risk Of No Rest Days:
Exercise puts the body and mind under constant stress. Regular exercise without a day off can exhaust your body and mind.
The American Council on Exercise, or ACE, states that depriving the body of rest may result in low glycogen levels in the muscles. The body may begin using the depleted protein as fuel, which lowers the quantity of protein available to support muscle growth and repair.
Without a rest day, muscles, joints, and other important structures do not have the time to repair themselves. People may grow mentally weary and more prone to mistakes throughout training. Trying to push through without a day off will eventually come back to bite you.
How Frequently Should You Take A Rest Day?
There is no set number of rest days that you should take; instead, the frequency of rest days depends on your goals, training regimen, biological makeup, and degree of fitness at the time. But with harder exercises, like HIIT, additional recuperation time is needed.
ACE suggests taking a day off every seven to ten days of exercise, but since this is based on individual needs, it’s important to take into account both your body and your brain.
Final Thoughts:
When you’re enjoying your workouts and in the zone of training, it can be tempting to skip rest days. However, if you want to stick with your workout regimen over the long term, rest days should not be negotiable.
A rest day is any day spent doing moderate stretching or yoga or other forms of relaxing. You may even choose to relax for the full day. Plan ahead or take an unscheduled day off from your regular workout regimen; either way, your body and mind will appreciate the break.