Everything is ready to go. You’ve already prepared your bag, and you’re heading to the pool for your usual workout. But suddenly you become unusually tired and weak. You feel like you won’t be able to endure an entire hour in the pool, so you decide to postpone. Or you end up going, but you feel exhausted. Your muscles are sore, and you’re yawning, thinking you should just stop. But your workout is the same as always, so what is making you so tired?
Tired muscles: what are the causes?
There are multiple reasons for tired muscles, especially if you’ve been unusually tired for a long time (over two weeks). Consulting a doctor is the best option, but if it is a sporadic episode, the most common causes are probably of a muscular or mental nature and can often depend on bad habits and an incorrect diet.
Muscle fatigue, most commonly affecting athletes and those who train frequently, may happen because you are inadequately resting between sessions. It is often caused by excessive lactic acid, which accumulates in the muscles and can’t be eliminated naturally. Usually, this byproduct of metabolism is re-converted into glucose, but when it builds up too much, we start to feel a burning sensation and tiredness, an unmistakable sign that we must stop and let our muscles to relax.
Other times, muscle fatigue is caused by dehydration, excessive temperature increase or the exhaustion of your energy reserve (glycogen). During intense physical activities, your body temperature can reach 104 degrees, and if the heat doesn’t dissipate through the circulatory system, sweat won’t evaporate. In extreme circumstances, all this could lead to a heat collapse.
So what should you do?
If you have muscular fatigue, you should stop training, because continuing would be counterproductive and most definitely won’t lead to good results. Before starting your workout in the pool, you should warm up, so your muscles will be prepared. There are also natural supplements that replace fluids lost from sweating that contain maltodextrin, mineral salts, sodium, and glucose, which are particularly important for the absorption of water.
Of course, it is important to drink the right amount of water to eliminate toxins and to stay hydrated, from 1/2 to one gallon a day and to eat vegetables, frequent meals, not abundant, less fat and light condiments. Fried food, alcohol, sausages and salami, and caffeine-like tea and coffee should be consumed minimally!
If the cause is stress
Mental fatigue, equally hazardous, can be caused by an alteration of the central nervous system due to a substance called tryptophan, which leads to drowsiness and fatigue. Tryptophan activates when the amount of amino acid in the blood is inadequate (we’re talking about the most valuable energy reserves) most often due to incorrect nutrition. You should be eating eggs, milk, rice, seasonal fruits and vegetables, fish, meat, and corn to replenish your necessary amino acids.
You would have never guessed…mental fatigue is most often caused by stress and bad habits. Here are a few examples.
If you aren’t sleeping a lot (less than 7-8 hours a night), sitting in front of your computer in the same positions for hours, drinking too much coffee or alcohol, or often eating sweets and fried food, you are probably a victim of these bad habits. In the long run, these bad habits can cause a whole series of disorders, including excessive tiredness. Our advice is to find a remedy immediately, cultivating your well-being and balance, both physically and mentally.