You may think you are taking care of your body by giving your all to the gym and constantly over-exercising your body. In reality, this can be detrimental to your health and could be causing symptoms that you didn’t even know could be related. Dr. Shawna Darou is a naturopathic doctor and women’s health and hormone expert who has realized the impacts that Overtraining Syndrome is having on the fitness realm, and is dedicated to correct it one woman at a time.
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While exercise and moving your body is key to maintaining longevity, it is essential to find a routine that works for you and meets your body where it is currently at. By building breaks into your workout routine you can optimize your systems peak performance without experiencing physical or mental burnout. Dr. Shawna provides tips on how to build up your metabolism by actually exercising less, ways to recognize that you are pushing your nervous system and hormones too far, and how to build variety into your workouts to allow your muscles to recover
Overtraining Syndrome can be linked to insomnia, anxiety, low immune systems, and irregular heart rates, which can often lead to being under or misdiagnosed. It is up to you to start listening to what your body is telling you so that you can develop your own unique bodily intuition. By understanding what is happening on a hormonal level inside our bodies, balancing the underlying stressors in our lives and taking breaks from high-intensity workouts, you can create a cycle of training that keeps your body supported and high functioning.
How does Shawna’s approach to fitness, nutrition, and lifestyle align with how your body trains? Let us know in the comments below.
In This Episode
- Understanding Overtraining Syndrome and the physical and psychological tolls
- Signs and symptoms of being addicted to working out and how to make a change
- Areas of nutrition someone who struggles with overtraining should focus on
- The correlation between overtraining syndrome, disordered eating and body dysmorphia
- How to allow your muscles to cover, your body to reset and your stress hormones to lower
Quotes
“The bottom line to make any kind of exercise program sustainable is to actually build in breaks and downtime.” (3:47)
“We want to build a love of activity, and a love of moving your body that lasts for life. Not necessarily a professional skill.” (11:53)
“I do think regular movement is important no matter what, sometimes it is just is a matter of having the talk about what could we replace it with that is actually going to be nourishing to you.” (18:59)
“What I love most about being a naturopathic doctor is the ability to connect with people and where they are at and teach them how to take care of their precious bodies themselves.” (28:33)
Links
Follow Dr. Shawna on Facebook|Instagram|Twitter|LinkedIn|YouTube
