How Quitting Exercise Can Affect Your Body

We all know how exercise can be beneficial to our health. Some people walk or swim or ride a bicycle to keep fit, some are interested in cardiovascular fitness while many of you may go for muscle building. No matter how much passionate you are regarding fitness there may come a situation when you may be forced to quit it. The reason may be anything from illness, schedule disturbances or a lack of motivation. Whatever may be the reason, it’s sure to bring adverse effects to your body.

Here are expert’s views of the negative things that can happen to your body when you stop exercising for a long or a very long time:

Muscle Decline:

Howard G. Knuttgen, PhD., a senior lecturer at Harvard University says, “Muscle strength will slowly go downhill. Within a week or two, the person who removes the stimulus of strength training will notice slight effects. The size of the muscles involved will start to decrease, and you will find that you get tired more quickly or that doing certain chores becomes harder. None of this happens overnight.”

It may take couple of months for muscle strength to decline to pre-exercise levels. The rate of decline will depend on the level of fitness at the time you stop working out. The better your muscle condition during the time of exercise, the slower the loss of strength and other measure of fitness.

The problem is just not restricted to losing muscle size and strength. Doctor Knuttgen warns that “stopping a fitness routine may give rise to weight problems and increase the level of body fat.” He says “lack of physical activity will drastically affect body weight. If the person maintains the same intake of food, the body starts storing fat. Muscle fibre does not turn into fat tissue, lean tissue (muscle) decreases and fat tissue increases.”

Effects on the heart:

Gerald Fletcher, spokesperson for the American Heart Association and a Mayo Clinic cardiologist says “the two variables we tend to look at first in older adults are resting heart rate and blood pressure. The heart beats faster, and blood pressure rises- both signs of diminished physical condition. It usually takes two or three weeks to completely lose the training effect and six weeks to regain it.”

Effects on the mind:

Studies at Tufts University tells us that a regular work-out controls the brain chemistry and results in an improved mood and a feeling of well being and satisfaction. Skipping a day or two may not bring a substantial change to your emotions but the bottom line remains the same: The negative effects of breaking the exercise program is inevitable to your emotional health. It seems that an occasional day or two off may sometimes help recover your body and probably be a good idea. But just don’t let two days drift to become two weeks.