Can exercise offset the harm of staying up late?

As the concept of fitness becomes more popular, more and more people are consciously exercising to make themselves healthier. However, there are some misunderstandings that should be avoided, otherwise they may lead to health problems.

For example, some young people like to go to the gym for high-intensity running, weightlifting and other exercises after staying up late or working overtime, hoping to eliminate the physical and mental fatigue caused by overtime or staying up late through exercise, and achieve a "combination of work and rest". So is this practice really healthy? Today we will talk about this issue in detail.

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Let me first say the conclusion: the combination of "staying up late to work overtime + exercising" not only cannot bring health to our body, but will increase the burden on our body and bring unexpected health damage. Why is this so? Let's start with staying up late.

01

Staying up late is harmful

Many young people in modern society are under great pressure. It seems that there is endless work to do every day, and staying up late has become commonplace. Studies have shown that staying up late often can lead to decreased immunity, dull complexion, decreased vision, gastrointestinal disorders, forgetfulness and insomnia, and other symptoms of staying up late, threatening our physical and mental health.

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Staying up late for a long time can also make people gain weight easily. Because when we stay up late, the hormone level in the body will be temporarily disordered, and the level of a hormone that stimulates appetite will increase. That is why we always like to eat something when we stay up late. The longer we stay up late, the more we want to eat, one bite... two bites, and after a long time, the scale will alarm.

People who stay up late for a long time are prone to illness. Because staying up late will prevent our bodies from getting the rest they deserve, we are physically and mentally exhausted, our ability to resist the invasion of foreign germs is reduced, and we are more susceptible to infection, which often manifests as being more susceptible to colds or gastrointestinal discomfort.

Finally, people who stay up late for a long time are in a state of endocrine disorder and have various acne. Because staying up late will cause us to lack sleep, it will disrupt the body's balanced biological clock and cause metabolic disorders in our body; people who stay up late also generally have long-term tension and anxiety, which is more likely to cause symptoms such as rashes and dermatitis on the facial skin, causing various acne on our faces.

02

Exercise, don't do it after staying up late

Because staying up late has so many harmful effects, some people have started to think, since staying up late is bad for the body, and fitness is good for the body, then if we exercise more after staying up late, wouldn’t it offset the harm of staying up late? Unfortunately, ideals are full of hope, and reality is very skinny. This is definitely not a good idea.

What needs to be emphasized here is that we control our weight and improve our immunity through long-term exercise. This idea itself is feasible and effective, but we cannot do high-intensity exercise immediately after staying up late. If you stay up late, you should first get enough sleep to restore your body to a better state before exercising. Because our body needs enough sleep to enter a deep state of relaxation, so as to restore physical strength and energy.

If you force yourself to exercise when you are not in good condition, it will cause harm to your body. The main reasons are as follows:

First of all, during high-intensity exercise, our muscles will contract strongly, our blood circulation system will run at a high speed, and the capillaries on the surface of the body will be in a state of expansion, which will put a heavy burden on the body. And exercising after staying up late will bring a heavy burden to our body.

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This is because after staying up late, the cardiovascular system is already overloaded, the heart rhythm is disrupted, and the cardiovascular system cannot rest. At this time, high-intensity exercise will further stimulate the heart rate and increase blood pressure, which can easily induce various cardiovascular diseases due to overload of the heart or blood vessels. Even people with no history of heart disease or hidden heart disease will increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction due to excessive burden. For example, in recent news, there is a tragedy of employees who frequently work overtime and collapse in the company gym.

In addition, high-intensity exercise after staying up late can easily cause various sports injuries. After staying up late, our spirit is in a stage of deep mental fatigue, which is manifested externally as lack of concentration and low thinking efficiency. If we do high-intensity exercise at this time, it is easy to cause irregular movements, which will increase the possibility of various sports injuries.

03

How should I exercise after staying up late?

Many people have the habit of exercising regularly. Maybe one day they have to work overtime and stay up late for work. After finishing a day's work, they still want to exercise to relax. But as mentioned in the previous article, high-intensity exercise after staying up late has so many disadvantages. What should they do in this case?

First of all, I would like to emphasize again that after staying up late, you should have a good sleep first to recover from the physical and mental fatigue caused by work before exercising. Occasionally skipping exercise will not affect your physical condition. Even if some friends are very self-disciplined and do not want to break their exercise routine due to occasional overtime and late night work, it is recommended to make corresponding adjustments and reduce the intensity and amount of exercise when exercising.

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For example, you can choose various stretching exercises or low-intensity aerobic exercises such as jogging and swimming, and you must strictly control the intensity of the exercise during the exercise. Generally, you can monitor the intensity of the exercise by monitoring the heart rate during exercise. The exercise heart rate should be strictly controlled below (220-age) × 60% of the heart rate, so that our cardiovascular system can remain within a relatively safe intensity range.

Finally, I would like to emphasize again that if you can avoid staying up late, do so. If you have to stay up late, the best way to recover is to sleep rather than exercise. Exercise is best done after a good rest, and don't force yourself to do strenuous exercise while you are sleepy.

Author: Wu Dongming, Associate Researcher, National Physical Fitness Research Center, Institute of Sports Science, General Administration of Sports of China

Review | Li Chunlei, Physical Training Coach of the State Sports General Administration

Editor | Ding Zong

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