Humans must do physical exercise and remain active. However, overtraining and doing workouts without proper rest can have a negative effect. You have to give importance to rest days as you give to exercises. For a proper fitness plan, rest days are also essential. It has to be included in the plan.
Your body will repair and recover when you give regular breaks. It is very important for the progress in your workouts, be it any sport or fitness level. If you skip your rest days, you will be burned out or overstrain yourself.
What Are The Benefits Of Rest Days?
Rest days have many benefits. Below are the most common ones.
- Gives Time For Recovery
Most people consider a rest day to be laying on their couch lazy. But the fact is that this is the time the benefits of exercise start to come out. Rest is very important for muscle growth. Microscopic tears will be created in your muscle tissues when you exercise. But the fibroblast cells repair it when you take a rest. Thus, the tissue easily heals and keeps growing, which gives you stronger muscles.
Muscles store carbohydrates as glycogen. This glycogen will be broken down by your body to give fuel for your workout. By taking rest, your body will get enough time to restore the energy for your next workout.
- Avoids Muscle Fatigue
Exercise creates fatigue in the body, which can be avoided through proper rest. The glycogen levels of your muscles will be depleted through exercise. When the body cannot replace these stores, you will suffer from soreness and muscle fatigue. Your muscles require glycogen for their functioning even when you are not involved in rigorous physical activities. When you take rest, your glycogen levels will be restored, avoiding fatigue.
- Avoids Injuries
If you wish to stay safe while exercising, you need proper rest too. Overtraining your body makes your body lose weight, become out of form, or make wrong decisions. Your muscles also suffer from strain and stress through overtraining. Thus, there are more chances for overuse injuries, which will need more rest than usual.
- Enhances Your Performance
You find it hard to follow your daily routine when you do not take rest. Thus, you won’t have the energy to face challenges. You might not be energetic enough to do the extra mile if you are tired. Overtraining will not increase your performance even if you try your best. It will result in low agility, slower reaction times, and poor endurance. Rest is opposite to this. It helps you to raise your energy levels and eliminates fatigue. Thus, your body will be fit enough to carry out successful workouts.
- Gives Sound Sleep
Proper exercise can give you good sleep. Rest also has an impact on your sleeping habits. Hormones that boost your energy levels like adrenaline and cortisol will be increased through physical activities. But these hormones will be overproduced when you consistently exercise. Thus, it might stop you from getting good sleep. Rest will take these hormones to a balanced and normal level, giving you sound sleep.