This is why rest days are so important

When we find an activity or sport that we enjoy, makes us feel better, and makes us look better, we can sometimes become addicted to it. Ideally, we would do it every day.

Our brains often automatically think that more is better, but this is not always true, of course. We also need rest. You can read about why rest days are important in this article.

Why do we need rest days?

Simply put, when you train, it puts stress on your body and your body needs to recover from it.

Rest days allow your muscles, bones, nerves, and tissues to rebuild themselves. Combined with proper nutrition and sufficient sleep, your body can become stronger than before.

If you don't give your body rest days, it won't have enough time to recover. At first, you may not notice much, but eventually, you'll become exhausted and your body will hit the brakes itself.

The risk of not taking enough rest

The body doesn't distinguish between mental and physical stress. When your body is overtrained, it's overstimulated (too much stress), and you can experience unpleasant symptoms.

Some examples are (1,2):

• You're constantly fatigued.
• You have trouble falling asleep and sleep poorly.
• You're easily irritable.
• Your muscles recover slower.
• You experience feelings of depression.
• Your immune system is weaker, and you get sick more often.

Prevention is better than cure

While overtraining on a short-term basis can usually be resolved in days or weeks, long-term overtraining is a much more serious issue and takes a lot longer to recover from, namely weeks to months. (3)

As tempting as it may be to go back to doing what gives you such a good feeling, make sure to schedule enough rest days. In the long run, you'll have much more enjoyment from it.