--- title: "Feeling Tired, Sick, and Slower? It Might Be Overtraining & Mental Load - Not Laziness" entity: "blog" canonical_url: "https://www.andreaproulxnd.com/blog/feeling-tired-sick-and-slower-it-might-be-overtraining-mental-load-not-laziness" markdown_url: "https://www.andreaproulxnd.com/llms/blog/feeling-tired-sick-and-slower-it-might-be-overtraining-mental-load-not-laziness" lastmod: "2025-06-20T02:50:00.000Z" --- Because yes, overtraining is real—and no, it’s not just for pro athletes. Let’s be clear: You love to train. You thrive on tough workouts, crisp sweat, and the post-session glow. But what happens when the more you train… the worse you feel? If you’re dragging through your workouts, catching every cold in sight, and still blaming your lack of energy on "not trying hard enough"—it’s time to look deeper. ## 🧠 The Hidden Cost of Overtraining Isn’t Just Physical While exercise is a powerful anti-inflammatory and mood booster, it’s still a stressor. And stress, in all its forms—training, deadlines, hormones, sleep deprivation—adds up. Here’s what your body might be juggling this week: 🚴‍♀️ High training volume 💼 Career stress and endless Zoom meetings 💬 Emotional labor and the "mental load" (yes, managing everyone’s schedule counts) 🩸 Hormonal shifts across the menstrual cycle 🍷 Social commitments (hello, 9 p.m. birthday drinks) 💤 Interrupted or insufficient sleep Alone, each of these is manageable. Combined? They create what physiologists call a total allostatic load—aka the total wear-and-tear on your body from adapting to stress. Eventually, even your mitochondria start waving a white flag. And when these “powerhouses of the cell” suffer, you can bet that everything your muscles, brain, body try to do is exhausting. ## 🧬 Overtraining 101: It’s Not Just More = Better Overtraining Syndrome (OTS) isn’t a badge of honor—it’s a medical condition involving chronic fatigue, immune suppression, and hormonal dysregulation. Here's how overtraining can mess with your health: - Immune dysregulation - 👉 Reduced salivary IgA, increased susceptibility to colds and infections - Energy imbalance - 👉 Caloric deficit, low energy availability (RED-S risk), hormone disruption - Mood & cognition changes - 👉 Low motivation, irritability, poor focus, increased anxiety - Endocrine & Libido havoc - 👉 Blunted cortisol rhythm, lowered estrogen, thyroid or DHEA suppression - Cardiovascular & nervous system dysregulation - 👉 Elevated resting HR or HRV suppression, altered vagal tone You don’t just wake up one day with this problem, it builds up over time. Overtraining often begins with non-functional overreaching—you push harder, don’t bounce back. Performance declines. You lose motivation. Then you get sick or injured… and the cycle continues. ## 🧠 But Wait—Isn’t This Just Life? Exactly. For active women who lift, sprint, hike, and still make dinner reservations, your reality means that recovery isn't just about post-workout protein. Even if you plan your training perfectly, your mental load—and hormonal milieu—requires recovery too. Add these factors into your recovery plan: 🩸 Menstrual cycle shifts: Progesterone in the luteal phase increases core temp and breathing rate—recovery needs increase in this phase. You gotta live in rhythm! (And I’ve got you covered, check out [Keeping Your Rhythm course](/keeping-your-rhythm-waitlist/keeping-your-rhythm-waitlist)) 🧠 Cognitive stress: Deadlines and emotional labor tax the HPA axis just like a hard hill sprint. 🛌 Sleep: Under 7 hours/night = elevated cortisol, poor immune recovery, and increased injury risk. Not to forget about brain fog, real irritability and increased cravings for fast sugars. 🍽️ Nutrition: RED-S doesn’t need disordered eating—it can be as simple as skipping lunch after training and not getting the calories you need. ## 💪 How to Train Smart (and Stay Sane) You’re not fragile. But you’re not a robot either. To prevent overtraining: ✔️ Plan deload weeks every 3–4 weeks. [Train in synch and have the rhythm of your recovery aligned](/keeping-your-rhythm-waitlist/keeping-your-rhythm-waitlist) with your cycle. ✔️ Periodize your training and your recovery ✔️ Match your fuel to your training AND life stress ✔️ Track HRV, resting HR, or use subjective fatigue scores ✔️ Say no to that 5th event this week TL;DR If you're training hard but feeling worse—more tired, sick, or stuck—it’s not a sign to push harder. It’s a sign to pull back and recover smarter. Get the support, knowledge and how-to from a trusted healthcare or fitness provider. Because strong isn’t just about how much you can do—it’s also how well you bounce back. References - Low energy availability surrogates correlate with health and performance consequences of Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport. Kathryn E Ackerman. Br J Sports Med 2019. PMID: 29860237 - Overtraining Syndrome as a Complex Systems Phenomenon. Lawrence E. Armstrong. Front. Netw. Physiol., 17 January 2022. PMID: 36925581 - Low Energy Availability in Athletes 2020: An Updated Narrative Review of Prevalence, Risk, Within-Day Energy Balance, Knowledge, and Impact on Sports Performance. Danielle M Logue. Nutrients. 2020 Mar 20;12(3):835. PMID: 32245088 - Physical Activity and Female Sexual Dysfunction: A Lot Helps, But Not Too Much. Elisa Maseroli. J Sex Med. 2021 Jul;18(7):1217-1229. PMID: 34099414