Whether we engage in strength training workouts or indulge in lots of cardio, there’s no denying that once we find a favorite routine, we’re always going to show up to the workout class, ready to take on the routine with determination.
As we try to keep our fitness game strong, we might tend to forget about the importance of rest days between workouts. After exercise, our muscles need time to rest and recover in order to rebuild and gain the strength needed to keep you healthy and active.
Having rest days in between vigorous workout routines will help our muscles become stronger and prevent exposure to harmful injuries.
Importance of Rest Days
It’s time to give your muscles a much-needed break and here are a few more reasons why rest days are so important for your body.
1. Avoid Mental Fatigue
Taking a rest day doesn’t just affect your physical health. Your mind needs some time off as well in order to rejuvenate and prepare for your next workout.
Additionally, the last thing you need is to be bored during your exercise routine. Having this rest period also builds excitement for when you head out to your next workout class and, therefore, keeps you more active and energized in the long run.
2. Give Muscles Time to Recover
Exercises that involve strength training techniques cause little tears in our muscle fibers that need time in order to recover and rebuild.
If you decide to skip out on rest days, not only do you prevent optimal performance during various activities, but you also expose your body to unnecessary injury.
3. Prevent Your Immune System from Overheating
Our immune system is put to work as it helps our muscles and joints bounce back to full recovery.
Rest days will help our immune system continue work on repairing our muscles and give them the time they need in order to prevent exposure to injury without overworking the system.
4. Prevent Harmful Injuries
As mentioned above, skipping out on rest days can increase the risk of getting injured. By taking the right amount of rest in between your workouts, you prevent unnecessary injuries that could, in fact, keep you away from your exercises for a long period of time while you recover.
5. Over-Exercising Can Affect Sleep
Exercising too much can actually affect your sleeping patterns and keep you from falling asleep.
Sleep plays an important role in maintaining overall health and well-being, therefore, lack of sleep can lead to a number of health problems, including weight gain and fatigue.
Tips for an Effective Rest Day
The following tips can help you engage in an effective rest day that will enable you to bounce back to your workout routine in no time.
1. Sleep
Get lots of sleep. The cells in our bodies work hard to repair and rejuvenate themselves while we are asleep. This rejuvenation process is extremely important for our overall well-being and gets us up and running for our future workouts.
2. Protein
Protein is the essential nutrient needed to promote muscle building. Eating foods rich in protein such as lentils, eggs, and nuts will fight muscle soreness and boost the muscle recovery process.
3. Water
Staying hydrated is probably one of the most important parts of maintaining your overall fitness. Drinking lots of water boosts our happiness, reduces feelings of fatigue, and improves cognitive function.
Water also helps to boost performance during workouts and regulates important body functions that keep us healthy.
Quick FAQs
1. How are rest days importance for muscle growth?
As we work out and perform vigorous exercises, our muscles are put to work and are often left with little tears in the muscle fibers. Rest days are important in order to repair and rejuvenate these tears for stronger, bigger muscles.
The content of this Website is for is for informational purposes only, is general in nature and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, and does not constitute professional advice. The information on this Website should not be considered as complete and does not cover all diseases, ailments, physical conditions, or their treatment. You should consult with your physician before beginning any exercise, weight loss, or health care program and/or any of the beauty treatments.
References:
Why Rest Days are Just as Important as Working Out. (2015, July 17). Retrieved from https://www.theactivetimes.com/why-rest-days-are-just-important-working-out
6 Reasons Why Rest Days Are Important. (2017, July 19). Retrieved from https://blog.fitbit.com/6-reasons-why-rest-days-are-important-featuring-dean-karnazes/
Schultz, R. (2017, June 12). How to Have an Effective Rest Day. Retrieved from https://www.beachbodyondemand.com/blog/how-to-take-effective-rest-day
