Overtraining, over-dieting, overthinking - how much self-care is enough?

If you could choose, how long would you be willing to wait for the results of your efforts? Probably not that long, am I right? When we want things, we want them fast and long-lasting. The urge of achievement often triggers us to pushing, reducing, repeating, refusing, obsessing over and over again and paradoxically doesn’t take us even a single step closer to health, balance and happiness. Effects of misinterpreted self-care can do us a lot of harm, and the only thing they have in common with the dream results is that unfortunately they can last very long.

Excessive self-care

Too much stress, too little sleep, too much work – who can relate to this summary of the XXI century lifestyle? I could venture to say that most of us do. Luckily, at the same time more and more of us want to take actions to feel better. It seems that the topic of wellness, well-being and self-care is everywhere. Statistics show that nearly „nine out of 10 Americans (88 percent) actively practice self-care, and one-third of consumers have increased their self-care behavior during the past year.” ¹ Google Search Trends shows a 250% increase in self-care related searches since the beginning of pandemic.² Wellness and health influencers become one of the most popular and the best paid in the world – 44% of people with a health condition look for their opinions, and among those who value them, nearly a 100% trust their advice.³ The global wellness market is predicted to grow by 9.9% annually, with the wellness economy reaching nearly $7.0 trillion in 2025.⁴ Mind-blowing. And, if we begin to misinterpret what taking care of ourselves means in practice, potentially dangerous.

Overtraining

Exercise is the perfect tool to maintaining physical and emotional health. The only thing required to move your body is your body. There is no need for fancy workout gear, accessories and gym memberships to benefit from the healing power of movement. No wonder we’re constantly encouraged by the specialists to do it. Dr. Andrew Huberman, a world renowned neurobiologists from The Stanford University and the author of The Huberman Lab Podcast, swears by a 45-60 min cardio or weight training routine a day for maintaining the optimal health, brain included.⁵ Dr. Matthew Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California specializing in the science of sleep, claims that regular exercise improves the quality of sleep by reducing cortisol levels, readjusting the circadian rhythm and regulating the body temperature.⁶ Dr. Alisa Vitti, an integrative nutritionist and the founder of FLOLiving.com, a virtual health center that supports women’s hormonal and reproductive health, states that sport can play a crucial role in female hormonal health and fertility.⁷ Joanna Czech, a celebrated skincare guru, assures that 70% of how we look depends not on the cosmetics we use but on the lifestyle choices we make, including sport.⁸ The list goes on and on. It’s easy to think that the more workouts we do, the better we feel. That’s where the tricky part begins. As much as our bodies need to be active, they also need to rest. When we skip a workout for the sake of regeneration and avoid overtraining, this is what happens:

• the body has a chance to remove excess lactate, a bi-product produced during normal metabolism and exercise, from the muscles; this helps to avoid sore muscles ⁹
• the fibroblasts can repair and build up the muscle tissue, damaged during intense physical activity ¹⁰
• the muscles can replenish their glycogen stores, fueling body up for the next workout ¹¹
• you avoid fatigue caused by hormonal and other imbalances resulting from a lack of rest ¹²
• you become more injury-resistant ¹³
• you feel more relaxed, because you don’t experience cortisol spikes from putting too much stress on your body with overtraining ¹⁴

How should we know when to push the limits, improve our performance and challenge ourselves physically and when to stop? The more we learn to listen to our bodies, the less confusing it gets. Before thinking about the next workout routine, we should check if our bodies are capable of achieving the fitness goals. According to the American Council on Exercise¹⁵ , the most common symptoms of overtraining are: lack of ability to complete a normal training routine, persistent muscle pain or soreness, changes in mood or behavior, binge eating, insomnia, decreased immunity and increased reluctance before performing a workout. After receiving the internal green light to do a workout, we should aim for at average 30 minutes of sport a day, varying between weight training, hight intensity interval training, and low impact activities, such as walking and give the body some time to rest in between. 16

Over-dieting

According to one British study, the average adult can try up to 126 different fad diets during their life, which gives 2-3 takes on quick weight fix a year. ¹⁷ What exactly is a fad diet? It’s a trendy, dietary plan without being a standard dietary recommendation that promises fast results, often without scientific evidence to support its claims.¹⁸ And just like any other trend, fad diets change often enough to keep us in the never-ending spiral of restriction and over-dieting. Keto. Intermittent fasting. Cabbage soup diet. Paleo. Juice cleanse. Carnivore diet. Low-fat diet. High- carb diet. DASH diet. Sirtfood diet^.19 As you can see, picking up on just 2 new dietary trends a year isn’t that difficult at all, especially when each new trend allures with a promise of restoring the looks, health and energy levels in no time. I’m a big fan of paying attention to what gets on my plate but I think that making healthy, nutritious, delicious choices has nothing to do with over-dieting. Am I right? According to multiple research, I might be. Over- dieting can lead to:

• repetitive cycles of gaining, losing, & regaining weight ²⁰
• developing eating disorders 21
• increased risk of depression, emotional distress, irritability and lack of overall life satisfaction
• malnutrition and inadequate nutrients intake ²²

• slow metabolism ²³

• muscle loss 24
• chronic fatigue ²⁵
• reduced fertility and low libido ²⁶

• skin and hair conditions ²⁷

• reduced immunity ²⁸

Would you be willing to sacrifice this much for the sake of fitting in to a 1 size smaller jeans? I hope not. Over-dieting is one of the most dangerous forms of misinterpreted self-care. Food should be the source of energy, pleasure, fun and most of all health. If you want to follow some guidelines, chose your mentors smart. Verify information on new diets, focus on science-based evidence, invest in high-quality food before buying new supplements and again, most of all listen to your body. If you notice symptoms listed above, make sure to take a closer look on what, how much and how often you eat.

Overthinking

How often do you find that even just the idea of self-care makes you feel stressed? That you’re not doing enough routines, your food is not clean enough, you’re not giving yourself enough time for self development and your meditation station doesn’t look spiritual enough? Overthinking is an anxious tendency to continually monitoring, analyzing and evaluating your thoughts and emotions, followed by (usually unproductive) attempt to control them and can be easily confused with broadly acclaimed mindfulness. Whereas the first rule of mindfulness is being here and now with awareness but with no judgement on our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations and surrounding environment, ²⁹ overthinking involves ruminating the past, confronting the present and attempting to predict the future with a negative mindset.³⁰ And it comes with a price, affecting decision-making processes, decreasing self-esteem, increasing the risk of anxiety and depression and manifesting in physical symptoms including fatigue, headaches, nausea and changing appetite. ³¹

Despite such negative effects, people who overthink often feel they’re doing themselves a favor by consciously confronting their thoughts in this self-protection mechanism. ³² They’re not. We’re not. You’re not. When you notice that you’re stuck in your head, try to positively reframe your thoughts. Take a deep breath, write down what’s on your mind and investigate the negative triggers, meditate and keep the focus on problem-solving. Conscious actions can take you places overthinking never will.

Self-care done right

One of my recent favorite Instagram accounts is the one of a biochemist Jessie Inchauspé, known as Glucose Goddess.³³ Her posts and stories are packed with science-based evidence on how sugar impacts our bodies and practical tips helping to implement this science into daily, busy life. She often interacts with her followers, giving them a chance to ask her questions. Most of them concern perfecting the Goddess’s glucose-friendly dietary hacks. One of the things I like the most about Jessie, with all the respect to her impressive knowledge, is the way she answers. Even though she strongly encourages everyone to follow her guidelines, it comes with „just please don’t stress over it” attitude. She always says to use her hacks only when it’s easily accessible and enjoy the moments of food indulgence when it’s not. She is aware of the mental burden that comes with self—care fixation and wants us to have fun with it instead. Self-care is a complex approach to life. Sometimes it means starting the morning with a glass of warm water and a HIIT workout and sometimes sleeping in until noon to recharge. If I wanted to make a definition of it, I would begin with what self-care should never be: trying to become the best version of yourself and becoming the most drained, overstressed and overwhelmed version of yourself in the process.

Marzena Jarczak

An international model based in Paris. A researcher, copy writer and a journalist exploring for us the areas of neuroscience, brain, biohacking, living healthy life. Author of Out & About series discovering cultural life in Paris in all its aspects. A strong, wise personality with a growth mindset.

Read more:

1. What Self-Care Trends Means For Retailers In 2022; ASD Market Week, Mascala Wright, January 2022
2. Google searches in patient self-care increase during the COVID-19 lockdown, National Library of Medicine, National Centre for Biotechnology Information; Tamara Searle, BSc, Firas Al-Niaimi, MSc EBDV, and Faisal R. Ali, PhD FRCP; J Am Acad Dermatol. 2020 Nov; 83(5): e341, July 2020
3. Social Influencer Trend Report 2020, HealthlineMedia
4. Wellness industry statistics & facts; Global Wellness Institute
5. Foundational science-supported tools for health & performance; Andrew D. Huberman Ph.D., September 2,
6. How Exercise Affects Sleep Quality: 4 Late-Night Workouts, MasterClass, June 2021
7. Exercise & Your Menstrual Cycle, Floliving, Alisa Vitti; October 2021
8. Joanna Czech, facialiste : “70 % de notre apparence reposent sur notre style de vie”, Madame Figaro, Victoria Hidoussi; March 2020
9. Muscle fatigue and lactic acid accumulation, National Library of Medicine, National Centre for Biotechnology Information, K. Sahlin,
10. The bright side of fibroblasts: molecular signature and regenerative cues in major organs, Nature, Rita N. Gomes, Filipa Manuel & Diana S. Nascimento, August 2021
11. The role of skeletal muscle glycogen breakdown for regulation of insulin sensitivity by exercise, Frontiers, Jørgen Jensen1, Per Inge Rustad, Anders Jensen Kolnes and Yu-Chiang Lai, December 2021
12. Fatigue and underperformance in athletes: the overtraining syndrome, National Library of Medicine, National Centre for Biotechnology Information, R.Budgett, June 1998
13. The effects of resistance training, overtraining, and early specialization on youth athlete injury and development, National Library of Medicine, National Centre for Biotechnology Information, Benjamin K Walters , Connor R Read, A Reed Estes, September 2018
14. Hormonal aspects of overtraining syndrome: a systematic review, National Library of Medicine, National Centre for Biotechnology Information; Flavio A. Cadegiani, Claudio E. Kater, August 2017
15. 8 Signs You Need To Give Your Training a Rest, American Council on Exercise; Allison Hagendorf
16. Why Movement Matters, Dr.Hyman
17. Average person will try 126 fad diets in their lifetime, poll claims, Indepentend; Rebecca Stamp, January 2020
18. Fad diets: Food Fact Sheet, BDA The Association of UK Dietitians
19. 9 diet fads to try (or skip completely) in 2022, UT Southwestern Medical Center,Bethany Agusala, January 2022
20. Know Dietining: Risks and Reasons to Stop, National Eating Disorders Associations
21. developing eating disorders
22. Elimination Diet, Science Direct
23. Persistent metabolic adaptation 6 years after “The Biggest Loser” competition, Erin Fothergill, Juen Guo , Lilian Howard, Jennifer C Kerns , Nicolas D Knuth , Robert Brychta , Kong Y Chen , Monica C Skarulis, Mary Walter , Peter J Walter , Kevin D Hall, Obesity (Silver Spring);24(8):1612-9. doi: 10.1002/oby.21538, August 2016
24. Metabolic adaptation to weight loss: implications for the athlete; National Library of Medicine, National Centre for Biotechnology Information, Eric T Trexler, Abbie E Smith-Ryan and Layne E Norton; J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2014; 11: 7, February 2014
25. Popular Diets: A Scientific Review Executive Summary; Wiley Online Library; Marjorie R. Freedman, Janet King, Eileen Kennedy, September 2012
26. Low energy availability, not stress of exercise, alters LH pulsatility in exercising women, National Library of Medicine, National Centre for Biotechnology Information; A B Loucks, M Verdun, E M Heath; J Appl Physiol (1985) . 1998 Jan;84(1):37-46, doi: 10.1152
27. Can Foods Make You Break Out, WEBMd, Eric Metcalf; June 2013
28. Special attention to the weight-control strategies employed by Olympic athletes striving for leanness is required, National Library of Medicine, National Centre for Biotechnology Information; Magnus Hagmar , Angelica Lindén Hirschberg, Lukas Berglund, Bo Berglund; January 2018
29. What Is Mindfulness?, Greater Good Magazine,
30. What Causes Overthinking—And 6 Ways To Stop, Forbes Health; Marta Santilli, June 2022
31. Overthinking: Definition, Causes, & How to Stop, Berkeley Well-Being Institute, Sarah Sperber
32. Rethinking Rumination, Sage Journals; Blair E. Wisco, and Sonja Lyubomirsky, Susan Nolen-Hoeksemal; September 2008
33. Jeesie Inchauspe; Instagram