~~From the desk of Ann Arbor Chiropractor Dr. Mike Tannenbaum, D.C. Let me know if you have questions about this blog, chiropractic, back pain or neck pain. I can be reached at [email protected].

Well, it's summer time and a lot of people are exercising trying to get it into shape. The question is then, is too much exercise harmful for you? The answer is yes. Some negative consequences of over exercising are such things as weight gain, feeling tired, negatively impacting your menstrual cycle, limits your time for other activities, causes your appetite to increase and can possibly negatively impact your immune system. There is also the burnout factor when exercising too often. With all good intentions you attempt to exercise 7 days a week, but soon you get mentally tired of exercising or you injure yourself from over exercising and in turn you quit exercising all together.

Ideally, you want to rest from exercising one or two days a week. Resting allows your energy stores to be replenished and to heal tissue that's been injured during exercise (actually, helping build muscle). By the way, exercising too vigorously can have a variety of other negative health consequences.

So, what you should take from this is that moderate regular exercise is good for you (essential) but, exercising too frequently (and or too intensely) can have negative consequences. I hope you enjoy exercising and get great benefit from it, but be careful not to over do it.