Exercise is healthy, and those who live consciously are regularly active. The health benefits of exercising regularly are numerous. But one person might think that it is enough to exercise once or twice a week, while another prefers to exercise every day. But is daily intensive exercise actually good for your body, or is there a negative side of wanting to live a healthy life?
Research from Loughborough University has shown that the chance of dying prematurely is considerably reduced by exercising. However, no significant difference was found between people who exercise once or twice a week and people who exercise every day. The conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that it is not so much about how often you exercise, but rather the intensity of your training. Those who exercise once a week can, therefore, experience the same health benefits as someone active on a daily basis.
In terms of how it affects your health, you do not have to exercise every day, but that does not answer the question of whether exercise every day can actually be harmful, especially since exercising once a week is enough to experience health benefits. Some people might just like doing daily sports, but daily training could also become a kind of addiction. Can that hurt? According to sports doctor Kris Peeters, certain people sometimes exercise even when they have been injured. And that is no longer healthy.
Peeters advises people to not exercise at least one day a week, to give your body a rest day. The ideal situation is exercising three or four times a week, and variation in the type of training is important. So, focus on strength training one day and on endurance training the next. This way, you ensure a responsible level of exercise and that you do not overstretch the limits of your body.
