Rest Well: The Importance of Workout Recovery and Rest Days

The most important part of your workout comes after you leave the gym. Here’s everything you need to know about why it’s important to rest well after a workout.

The CDC recently reported that only 23% of Americans exercise regularly. Despite the undeniable health impacts of exercising, keeping fit for most people has only remained a new year’s goal that never actualizes. On the flip side, a significant number of those who work out hardly rest well.

Proper work out recovery is equally important as the workout. Yet, most fitness enthusiasts feel guilty when they have a day off the gym. You should take it easy on your body and rest well.

If you’ve been visiting the gym, you need to allocate the rest days. Keep reading to know why you need to rest well after working out.

Prevention of Muscle Injury

Workout stresses your body. Illustratively, weightlifting and other forms of weight exercises cause your muscles to have micro-tears. Without proper recovery, your tissues will swell and feel inflamed over time.

Rests reduce injury by preventing overuse. A day of rest can rejuvenate your muscles’ functionality. Pushing exercises too hard causes injuries.

Muscle injuries will necessitate you to have more rest days than you anticipate. It is essential to have planned rest days to deter muscle injury.

For Healthy Sleep

Regular exercise is one of the most recommended ways to improve sleep. Similarly, resting promotes healthy sleep. You need to know how to balance training and rest for a good night’s sleep.

Over-training keeps your body on high alert or restless. If your heart rate is unusually fast when resting, you’re probably over-training. You’ll notice that the alertness keeps you from falling asleep.

All forms of workout increase adrenaline and cortisol. These energy-boosting hormones are ideal when produced in moderation. With constant and vigorous training, the body overproduces hormones.
Consequently, the quality of your sleep deteriorates. But when you rest well, hormone production can normalize. The balanced hormones will allow you to sleep soundly through the night.

Mental Health

Recent research showed that people who exercised at least three hours a week reduced the possibility of depression by 17% as compared to their inactive counterparts.

Several studies have confirmed the positive impacts of workout on mental health. Yet, there’s a notable gap in research relating to the mental effects of inadequate rest after workouts.

Physical burnout paves the way for mental fatigue. If you’re mentally tired, chances of performing dismally throughout the day are high. Besides, you might experience fluctuating moods.

Your mind needs to rest. Make mental adjustments and convince yourself that it’s essential to rest. While at it, sleep enough, hydrate, and have nutritious meals.

Rest Energizes Muscle Cells

Moderate and high-intensity exercises require a significant amount of energy. The workout depends on glycolysis energy, leading to the depletion of glycogen levels. Resultantly, one feels drained and sluggish.

Having considerably low glycogen levels can have adverse effects on your system. The body might start using protein for energy instead of muscle repair. The confusion in body functionalities affects your overall well-being.

You can’t ignore the importance of rest day in energy replacement. If you’ve been feeling sluggish, rest might be the best solution. Ensure that you take enough rest before embarking on the next weightlifting session.

Performance Improvement

Athlete workout and any strenuous form of physical exercises leave you fatigued. If you don’t rest well after the workout, your typical routine becomes impossible. In fact, you might be unable to continue your training regimen with the initial vigor.

Sufficient rest ensures that you remain active throughout the day. It is essential to know about the key elements of effective post-workout recovery. The information will guide you on what to do on rest days.

Resting will prevent fatigue and increase your energy levels. Besides, you’ll have more successful workouts. Moderate workout and adequate rest will give you more fulfilling results than endless days in the gym.

Impacts on the Immune System

Physical exercise has been one of the highly recommended alternatives to medicine. It reduces the risk of several diseases, such as diabetes and cancer.

Excessive exercise can stress the immune system. The result is increased susceptibility to infections. While the research on the topic has been debatable, cases of increased upper respiratory tract infections have been notable among endurance athletes.

It is crucial to understand your tolerance levels. Regardless of your high fitness goals, you ought to know when to stop. Fitness should not override your immunity.

The cumulative training impedes immunity. For that reason, adequate rest is essential. When you rest well, you can resume your vigorous exercise.

Work Balance

If you fail to rest well, your output in your business or office won’t be desirable. The fatigue can make you spend a whole day on your desk in futility. Exercise shouldn’t lower your productivity.

Not unless you work in a fitness center, the time you spend working out shouldn’t outdo your time at work. Excessive workout and reduced recovery time will affect your resourcefulness in the workplace. Finding a balance is more fulfilling and it will help in your physical and financial growth.

Improve Your Social Life

Working out without resting makes you too fatigued to socialize. On your rest days, you can spend time with your family. Engage in other activities such as baking.

You can use your rest days to watch sports or volunteer in community work. The experience will improve your socialization and make you look forward to resting days.

Conversely, daily fatigue can reduce intentional interaction even with your family members. The mental fatigue leads to mood swings. You might feel the need to stay enclosed in your room.

It Is Vital To Rest Well For Your Workout Program to Be Effective

The positive impacts of regular exercises are unbeatable. But when you don’t rest well, you might not gain from the workouts. Instead, you will deal with a variety of physical, mental, and social implications.

Resting well encompasses several things. It would be best if you got enough sleep, eat a balanced diet, and hydrate. By the time you resume exercise, you will be in a better physical and mental state.

Are you a fitness enthusiast? Please explore our site further for more fitness and wellness content.

Jan092020

How Stretching Before Bed Will Help Your Quality Of Sleep

Regardless of the time of day, stretching is a well-known method to relieve tension along your back, neck, shoulders and other pressure points throughout the body. It also has the capability to reduce stress levels and promote relaxation, which is key if you want to fall asleep quickly and actually remain asleep. That’s why incorporating gentle stretches into your regular nighttime routine has proven to be advantageous for your quality of sleep. In fact, one compilation study review that combined American and Chinese research shows that meditative movements can improve sleep quality and have a positive impact on a person’s physical and mental health.

Stretching also allows you to practice mindfulness as you focus on your body movements and breathing. This teaches you how to be more in control of your mind, and can help you cope more effectively when anxious thoughts creep into your brain before bedtime. Considering about 40 million Americans suffer from anxiety or anxiety disorders, stretching before bed can be a helpful way for a lot of people to catch up on their Zzzz’s.

Here are a few of the best stretches you can do at nighttime to help you relax and unwind before you tuck yourself into bed.

Before-Bed Bridge

This pose is often used in pilates and yoga as it’s great at strengthening the core, and opening up your chest and hip flexors. It also has an array of other health benefits, as doing the bridge before bed can help evoke feelings of relaxation, improve digestion, and alleviate lower back pain.

If you don’t find this pose helpful for easing your lower back pain, the culprit could possibly be your bed, and it may be an indication that it’s time for an upgrade. The best mattress for side sleepers with lower back pain and others who suffer from the issue is one that contains coils because they tend to be much more supportive than all-foam beds, and will help keep your spine in proper alignment.

Low Lunge

This is an optimal stretch if you want to target your hip flexors, glutes, thighs, and groin. You can also open your chest while you’re holding this position for tension relief in your back and shoulders. Just make sure you remain comfortable when doing this pose and don’t strain yourself, or else you might end up feeling stimulated and awake — the exact opposite effects of what you’re going for.

Legs-Up-The-Wall Pose

The legs-up-the-wall stretch is a restorative pose which means it’s essentially a resting pose, and one of its main purposes is to promote relaxation. This specific restorative stretch also eases tension in your neck, shoulders, and back while it targets your glutes and hamstrings.

Child’s Pose

It’d be remiss not to mention child’s pose, another restorative pose that’s extremely popular because it’s a meditative movement that encourages you to meditate as you hone in on the rhythm of your breath. This relaxes your mind, body, and can be a big stress reliever after a long day on the job or watching the kids. Child’s pose also helps reduce tension in your neck, back, and shoulders.

Lying Spinal Twist

The spinal twist is an ideal stretch for individuals who spend a large portion of their day sitting in an office chair. After about eight hours of sitting down hunched over a computer keyboard, this movement stretches out and realigns the spine, and helps improve one’s posture.

Corpse Pose

Finishing off your pre-bedtime stretching session with the corpse pose is an effective way to get a head start on your sleep. Believe it or not, there’s a yoga stretch called the corpse pose where all you do is lay still on the ground (hence the name). It’s the ultimate restorative pose where you’re only expected to focus on your breathing, and is one of the best poses to do before bed to induce sleepiness.

About The Author

McKenzie Dillon is a blogger and sleep enthusiast for The Slumber Yard, a reviews site that focuses on bedding products. In her free time, she likes attending music festivals, reading fiction novels and practicing yoga.

Jan062020

Easy Meals in 2020

2020 is the year to do more with less. 2020 is the year to work smarter and not necessarily harder. (Although, we are strong supporters of hard workers.) 2020 is the year to see through all the myths and make the right decisions. We’re here to help you do that. We might be a week late, but we’ve been working on our own plans for this new year.

So, how are we going to do this? By making simple and delicious meals at home of course–without spending too much money. Here is our first recipe of the year, but this is about much more than this $7 meal for two. This is about you starting to understand how to balance the three important aspects of your diet: flavor, nutrition and cost.

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3 Must-Have Keto Products for First Time Keto Dieters

Trying out the keto diet for the first time? We reveal 3 of the best keto products on the market to help you see success with your diet.

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Easy Steps to Start a Fitness Program

Are you planning to start a healthy lifestyle journey? If so, a fitness program is right for you! Engaging in physical activities reduces your likelihood of getting chronic illnesses. It also enhances your balance as well as coordination. Moreover, you will lose weight, improve your sleep, and remain fit. Here is how you can start a fitness program

Continue reading…

Dec192019

The Ultimate Guide to Better Nutrition

Are you thinking of changing the way you look or your lifestyle? It’s an excellent decision to live a holistic life. The human body is quite magnificent as it has the DNA genes, which encompasses the blueprint that contributes to changes. The food you consume can directly or indirectly affect the genes.

If you are intolerant to some foods, you will note that the body turns into ways that lent degenerative or chronic conditions within the system. It often results in excruciating pain, weight gain, ailments, inflammation as well as destruction.

However, when you adopt a healthy lifestyle, all these will be a thing of the past. You will have a new chance to fight off illnesses, depression, gaining weight, or even hunger. Below is the ultimate guide to better nutrition.

To start, you ought to adopt the ideal concepts of nutritional wellness. They are as follows;

Dec122019

5 Healthy Tips for Your Heart to Lower Risk of Heart Disease

Heart disease is one of the leading causes of early death in adult men and women. This is a cause for concern. Below are tips to help you look after your heart.

Be Smoke- Free

This is the most controllable risk factor for heart disease. If you are a smoker, quitting smoking will reduce the risk of dying of heart disease by half in 12 months compared to the continuing smoker. For the non- smoker, you must protect yourself against second- hand smoke. It is smoke from the burning end of a cigarette, and the smoke breathed out by smokers. Only 5 minutes of it and your aorta is stiffened.

Continue reading…

Nov302019

Important Tips to Help You Avoid Injuries during Your Fitness Exercises

Introduction

Regular exercising is one of the essential activities that you can do for your health. But how you approach your physical tasks determines whether it causes problems or improves your well being. Using the wrong types of equipment or pushing yourself too hard or even wearing the wrong shoes can cause injuries.

Therefore, ensure that you remain safe and avoid injuries while exercising. Because when the exercise is safe and painless, you will enjoy doing it all the time, which will benefit you emotionally and physically. Here are some tips to help you stay safe during your exercise.

Nov012019

This Month on Hungry & Fit

November is upon us and in many parts of the United States, temperatures are finally starting to drop a bit. Last night, it was in the 40s here in New Orleans, which led to a lot of trick-or-treaters staying indoors. We still had about forty kids come by and yes, despite being healthy, we don’t see a major problem with Halloween. It is one night.

Oct292019

Does Meal Delivery Work for Weight Loss?

Weight loss and meal delivery plans have become quite common among consumers who are trying to lose weight. With the increase of this trend, many people are left wondering whether meal delivery services might work for their weight loss plan. If you are trying to lose weight and haven’t been able to, the first thing to understand is that the weight loss journey takes and requires time. But, this is one of the things that most people, especially those with a busy schedule don’t have.

The good thing is that meal delivery does work for weight loss, especially with the right meal delivery service and discipline. According to one article, there are several diets such as the Nutrisystem among other alternatives that work very well. Below is a look at why and how meal delivery works for weight loss.