Off Days

There’s more to staying active and healthy than working out as often as you can, or eating all the right foods 24/7; it’s also about taking time to rest. I’ve learned through personal experience that it’s almost impossible to “do it all” all the time. Sometimes life gets crazy busy, whether it’s the upcoming final exams, papers, and projects that lie ahead of us as we reach the end of this semester, things are busy at work, or you just have a lot going on in your life. Regardless of the circumstances, off days are absolutely necessary. Physically overexerting yourself when you’ve got a lot on your plate can cause exhaustion, irritability, and lack of focus. It’s important to give yourself a break from time to time.

Another reason off days are important is because it gives your muscles, bones, nerves and connective tissue time to fully recover and rebuild. Working out breaks down body tissues, specifically, resistance training causes microscopic tears due to the breaking down of muscles. Resting aids in the body’s regeneration process, which also consists of a solid diet of food and water, and helps the bodies tissues rebuild, growing back stronger. This process is what allows you to build muscle, strength, and endurance.

Sleep is another big aspect of taking the time to rest because when the body is in REM sleep, the body produces a greater amount of growth hormone, which assists muscles in recovery and repair.

Something to keep in mind about off days is that you want to make sure you give your body proper time to recover, but you also don’t want to take too much time that you lose the previous progress you’ve already made.

Source: https://www.theactivetimes.com/why-rest-days-are-just-important-working-out