Excessive training causes fatigue and impulsiveness. But it can also lead to a form of burnout.
Physical activity is good for your health, but you have to know how not to abuse it. Overtraining causes chronic fatigue and can reduce performance, French researchers show that it also causes brain exhaustion. The research team brings together scientists from the Brain and Spinal Cord Institute of the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis and the National Institute of Sport, expertise and of performance (INSEP). Their work was forgotten in the journal Current Biology.
A syndrome that is sometimes difficult to spot
Doctors speak of overtraining when the athlete’s fatigue continues after the recovery phase. It is difficult to identify it, but certain symptoms are recurrent: fatigue, sleep disorders, mood disorders, muscle pain. Left unchecked, overtraining syndrome can lead to injury.
3 weeks of intensive training
37 male athletes from INSEP took part in the study: some continued their training without changing anything, the other increased the duration of the sessions by 40% for three weeks. The researchers followed them for nine weeks by having them fill out questionnaires on their state of fatigue, performing MRIs and behavioral tests. On their recovery day, the athletes’ performance was analyzed through cycling sessions.
The risk of burnout
Researchers have found that too much training has similar effects to too much intellectual work on the brain. It causes a reduction in the activity of the lateral prefrontal cortex, which is strongly involved in cognitive functions. This causes impulsiveness and a preference for short-term gratifications over long-term goals. For example, the athlete may decide to abandon a race suddenly, to stop the pain, he can no longer think of longer-term deadlines. “Beyond these high-level athletes, specifies a communicated from Inserm, the researchers believe that clinically, fatigue and reduced cognitive control could be a first step in the development of a burnout syndrome, which affects many people in all kinds of professional environments. .” 36% of French people have already suffered a burnout during their career.
[#communiqué] It is not Inserm that will tell you the opposite: the #sport it’s good for the #health ! But still be careful of #excess : we are talking about overtraining syndrome ???????????????????????? https://t.co/AVUsfwYGK7#ScienceForHealth pic.twitter.com/CIzYXnmrfZ
— Inserm (@Inserm) September 26, 2019
.
