Are You Overtraining? | The Effects of Overtraining on Hormones- Thomas DeLauer:
Balancing Workouts, Diet, Career, and Family is all a balancing act, and that's why I specialize in it at http://www.thomasdelauer.com

So you found the inner fire inside of yourself and it is go time - time to eat healthy and workout hard! But you have heard that it is good to start slowly and work your way up. It may surprise you that this is not only for the purpose of not injuring your body. Working out is one of the quickest ways to affect your hormone production. Working out is a stress on your body. When you have healthy amounts of stress your body has time to heal and recover, leaving it stronger than it was before. When you do not give yourself that time to recover from stress, this can lead to a whole bunch of issues.

We all know that too much stress is a bad thing; chronic stress has been linked to headaches, overeating and obesity, restlessness, illness, and digestive problems. Our body’s stress response is similar when we exercise as when we experience a life stress, such as traffic or losing a job. Signals are sent that queue the release of stress hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline, into our blood from our adrenal glands. Elevated cortisol levels can signal that your body is undergoing chronic stress, which could be caused by life situations or by over exertion during workouts.

One study from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that cortisol levels in saliva were higher for those who underwent long duration, high intensity exercise (over 59 minutes of high intensity cardio.) Studies have also found that a similar increase in cortisol is experienced during heavy weight training workouts.

Another study looked at cortisol levels in those performing the same workout under two conditions: no additional emotional stress and additional emotional stress. Those that were exposed to emotional stress at the same time as working out had higher cortisol levels. This signifies the importance of both our wellbeing and our workout load on our hormone levels.

Alright, so we see that high intensity exercise can lead to raised cortisol levels. How does this impact us?

Overtraining Syndrome:
If you work out too hard and do not allow adequate recovery time, you may suffer from OTS.

Symptoms include:
-Problems sleeping
-Disrupted mood and behavior
-Fatigue
-Hindered athletic performance
-Sexual dysfunction - reduced sexual desire, even infertility
-Bone loss
-Weakened immune system
-Difficulty losing weight
-Amenorrhea (absence of menstrual bleeding)
-Physical injuries

What causes these symptoms? One of the large factors is an imbalance in your hormones.

Hormones:
Chronically high cortisol levels can lead to your body being in a catabolic state, where your body is not breaking down fat but rather muscle for fuel. It can also lead to a weakened immune system. If you have one hormone that is out of whack, it is likely to impact your other hormones. Chronically elevated cortisol levels lead to a decrease in the level of testosterone, estrogen and progesterone. These are the sex hormones, and are very important to our daily wellbeing. These changes reflect a change in the balance of catabolic hormones and anabolic hormones. This danger is particularly of concern for women. When your sex hormones are imbalanced you can experience amenorrhea, when your body enters a state where it no longer is able to menstruate. Eventually the adrenal glands go into a state of exhaustion, known as adrenal fatigue, where hormone production overall is slowed. In this state your body is not as capable of dealing with stress. At this state even your cortisol levels are low, leading to many of the down feelings associated.

Tips:
If you think you may be experiencing OTS, it may be time to take a step back and do what is best for your body. Give yourself time to recover.

If you are experiencing high stress at home or work, do a more relaxing exercise, such as yoga. This can help to reduce your cortisol rather than raise it, which will happen if you run hard for a long time or lift heavy weights.

References:
1. Effect of Exercise at Three Exercise Intensities on Salivary Cortisol
http://www.gfe-ev.de/onnews/2011/d2011_04_t01_01_02.pdf

2. Overtraining, exercise and adrenal insufficiency
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3648788/

3. The overtraining syndrome
https://philmaffetone.com/the-overtraining-syndrome/

4. Cortisol and overtraining syndrome
http://firstendurance.com/cortisol-and-overtraining-syndrome-why-an-athlete-should-care/

5. Overtraining syndrome
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3435910/

6. Fatigue and Underperformance in Athletes
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1756078/pdf/v032p00107.pdf

7. Overtraining, exercise and adrenal insufficiency
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3648788/