From a quick look, it seems like there's not a difference between the two. But knowing the difference between the two is important. In our previous blog, we talked about the importance of recovery. That taking care of yourself by resting is important. Recovery periods are important after working out or after a long day of work. For working out, it allows your muscles to rest, rebuild, and strengthen. For your mind, it will allow you to refresh yourself and come the next day with a ready brain.
If you're going into an exceptionally difficult work day, you want to be mentally sharp and ready. If you're working out, you want to make sure your body is fully recovered from the previous workout.
So, what’s the difference between over stressed and under recovered, and how can you avoid these two downfalls ?
Over Stressed/ Over Trained
Being over-stressed refers to a state where you are under excessive psychological or emotional tension. This could be from a demanding or challenging work situation. On the other hand, being over-trained comes from a state that follows intense physical activity. When you push beyond your current limits, you can over-exhaust your body. Some of the main signs of being over-stressed or over-trained are the following:
-
injury
-
exhaustion
-
decreased motivation
-
burnout
-
changed sleep patterns
-
depression
This can be boiled down to one phrase: doing too much. By doing too much, your body requires more than your normal amount of recovery time to get back to normal.
Under Recovered
Under recovery is what we were talking about for our last blog about the importance of sleep. If you don't sleep enough or eat enough, you don't provide your body with ample time to recover from even little things. This can also lead the following:
-
injury
-
exhaustion
-
decreased motivation
-
burnout
-
changed sleep patterns
-
depression
This is the story you hear about all the time: "I didn't do anything, I just woke up like this one day!"
Summary
As you can tell, the symptoms are very similar between over stressed and under recovered. But the main difference is how much stress you can manage. If you are over-stressed or over-trained, you need to rest more. After a really intense workout or work day, plan for more sleep by getting to bed a little earlier. If you find that you've not been sleeping well over the last couple of days (less than 6 hours a night), start setting boundaries to be in bed a little earlier. Create a SMART goal that evolves as you get more sleep. Start with
20 minutes earlier than usual, until you are getting between 7-8 hours of sleep a night.
If you need help figuring out why you can't perform at your best or get injured frequently, give us a call and we'll help you figure out why.
