Exercise affects more than cardiovascular health and muscle tone -- it likewise impacts hormone levels in your body. Hormones are substances in the body that stimulate activity and action in the body. Some hormones increase for the better, while excess exercise can cause responses that actually reduce your fitness level.
Appetite
Exercising on a treadmill for 60 minutes at a time has been shown to increase the release of the appetite-suppressing hormone peptide YY, according to Science Daily. The hormone ghrelin, an appetite-stimulating hormone, is reduced in production. This further helps to suppress your appetite. However, only the ghrelin is produced after a 45-minute weightlifting session, meaning vigorous cardiovascular exercise is most helpful in suppressing appetite both during and after workouts.
Mood-Boosting
Moderate to vigorous exercise can stimulate the release of two hormones in the brain: epinephrine and norepinephrine. These hormones are associated with stimulating the "feel-good" sensations in the body. One example is a runner's high that running enthusiasts experience after a lengthy run. These hormones also stimulate your heart rate to increase and cause the breakdown of glycogen in your body, which releases energy to your tissues.
Muscle-building
Exercise stimulates the increase in production of growth hormone. This growth hormone targets your skeletal tissue, helping it to grow stronger and larger in size. This hormone is in some part responsible for helping you experience muscle tissue growth. Growth hormone also stimulates your bones, helping them to produce more bone tissue. Because your bones are essentially a strong, yet spongy mass, added bone tissue helps to strengthen the bones.
Excessive Exercise
While exercise has many protective benefits, excess exercise can increase hormones that have an unhealthy affect on the body. Exercise stimulates your body's stress responses, including increased heart rate and sweating. Exercise stimulates the adrenal glands to produce adrenaline and cortisol. These do not have harmful effects in a regular exercise session. However, intense exercise sessions greater than 60 minutes can cause excess cortisol production, which is associated with a condition known as adrenal fatigue. This condition causes protein breakdown in your muscles, which lead to a reduction in strength and physical performance. To limit these effects, keep your routine under one hour to avoid overtraining and replenish carbohydrate, fluid and protein stores after exercise, which reduces cortisol levels.
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