I think it’s safe to assume that most of us, in a number of situations, would agree that more is better. Especially when we are dealing with something known to be good for us, beneficial, or otherwise able to improve our quality of life. Few would argue against the fact that having more money is better than having less money.
Most would agree, whether they actually adhere to it or not, that eating more fruits and vegetables is better for us, in both the short and long run, than eating fewer fruits and vegetables. Exercise also falls into this category.
We have always given exercise the same consideration. The more exercise one does, the better. It has even been argued that this benefit is not only multiplied, but possibly exponentially, when applied.
The marketing machine, health and fitness magazines, articles, blogs, etc. all seem to impress on us that the more exercise we do, the healthier we will be, the better our quality-of-life will be, the less disease we will have, and many other potential benefits of “more is better”.
In reality, however, the amount of exercise done over time does not benefit us exponentially.
It actually reaches a point, which is different for everyone, where the benefit curve starts to downslope and exercise does exactly the opposite of everything we are told it does. Study after study has come out showing that more is not better.
From brain health, to gut health, to hormonal health, even to relationship and emotional health – intense over-activity can be more detrimental than no activity at all.
Once again, I will argue that everything in life is on a bell-shaped curve. Too little or not enough of some things is just as bad as an overabundance of other things. This includes exercise.
