Are you obsessed with workouts and freak out with the measuring tape around your waist even if you miss a single day's work-out? This article is in that case a must-read for you…

Did you know exercise leads to addiction?

This might have raised your eyebrows! Nevertheless, this one’s a proven fact. The question is – how exercise creates addiction?

Exercising produces endorphins that are secreted from the pituitary gland of our body. Endorphins, you must have heard before, are also known as "Happy Hormones"! This is because these hormones reduce pain, anxiety, and create an overall feeling of happiness. Chemically, they are quite similar to the drug morphine and hence creates the addiction!

Regular exercisers like cyclers, bodybuilders, marathon racers, athletes, etc. are commonly known to suffer from this addiction. For them, even missing out on a single day's exercise can cause depression, stress, and anxiety! This often leads to overtraining or missing an important meeting (one that might have been scheduled by your boss).

Is there a way out?

Yes. There is. It's pretty easy to keep such an addiction at bay. There should be at least one day in the week when you do not exercise. Break the routine; you can engage yourself in a new sport in your ‘exercising time’ – the time that you use for workouts on other days. Engage your brain with alternative activities like cooking, reading a book, listening to music, or simply surfing your phone and maybe shopping online!

Just make sure that exercise does not take its toll upon your mind!

Exercising could cause Inflammation too

Inflammation here refers to muscle swelling that takes place due to intense and overwhelming exercising. When endurance exercises are being done for a long duration, extra consumption of oxygen results in the production of free radicals. These are often responsible for the oxidative damage to the muscles and other tissues.

This might sound contrary to what we usually perceive by the concept of 'exercising’ which is to help create an antioxidant defense system in our body that gets rid of the free radicals. However, over-exercising releases an excess of free radicals causing oxidative stress to the membranes, cellular proteins, etc.

This damage is manifested in the body through chronic inflammation, strokes, and/or any other degenerative conditions within the patient! The best way out is to avoid such intense workouts.

It could damage your skin as well!

So, over-exercise is a bane in this way too. The free radical damage that has been discussed above can result in making your skin look like a wrinkled elephant! In fact, all the things discussed so far in this article might contribute to an aged, worn-out look in contrast with your desire of a toned and refreshing frame.

‘Exercise freaks’ often tend to forget that the heart can beat a finite number of times and the muscles and tendons can absorb a certain extent of tension only! When the 'quota' is reached the body begins to give in! This is when you are left with a fibrotic heart, a chronic systemic inflammation, or worn-out tissues.

So, before you reach the threshold, control exercising!

All that said and done, this article is not to scare you off! Do not tend to forget that the virtues of exercising are many and inevitable at times. Exercising, in itself, is a virtue. Get the right exercise supplies at hand and workout correctly. A spray for muscle spasm should come in handy in your exercising arena too. As an exercise-lover, you would hardly want your neck or back sprain to come in the way of your daily regime!