Is Poor Motivation or Energy Affecting Your Training or Performance?
Have you noticed fatigue or slower performance? Lack of enjoyment or motivation to train, or to do the things you used to love to do? Are you having difficulty getting through the day without catching a nap in the afternoon? Does exercise keeps your mood high and without it you can be snappy or flat?
We know that exercise releases endorphins, making you happy, but if you’re finding that you can’t feel happy unless you exercise, you may be masking a deeper problem that may lead to continued performance and energy depletion in a very short space of time.
Depression doesn’t always come in the form of the typical symptoms such as negative thoughts, sadness, irritability, anger, aggression, anxiety, or insomnia. These are all common symptoms of low serotonin. Dopamine, however, is a brain neurotransmitter that satisfies your rewards centre, so you feel exhilarated following exercise as it forces your body to produce higher levels of dopamine, which then converts to adrenalin supplying you with energy.
If you have depleted the nutrients required to make dopamine and adrenalin, purely through either over training, or a poor diet, symptoms of deficiency don’t stop there, it goes on to cause chronic fatigue, poor libido, poor memory, poor concentration, and in severe cases, inability to continue going to work. This is not uncommon and often causes detrimental effects on your relationships with family and friends.
Dopamine and serotonin levels can be measured using specific medical testing. If you are serious about your sport and your health, you should consider testing these brain neurotransmitters as a regular health check, ensuring you remain in optimum health.
