If you’re clothes are feeling a little tighter today, you are certainly not alone. Christmas is a time for family and feasting, and we understand if you subjected yourself to some holiday binging. However, the overeating you did yesterday doesn’t have to completely derail your health. In fact, according to a new study published in The Journal of Physiology, the adverse effects of binge eating can be solved by continuing to exercise.
Studies taking place before this one showed that even just a couple of days of consuming more calories than you burn negatively impacts health. The energy imbalance this creates can have a major impact.
The new study shows that daily exercise, even if it’s for a short amount of time, can greatly improve your health even if you ate thousands more calories than you burn.
A researcher on the study, James Betts, said, “This new research shows that the picture is more sophisticated than ‘energy’ alone: exercise has positive effects even when we are actively storing energy and gaining weight. ”
During the study, people were monitored after overeating for a week (a great parallel to the Christmas season). Their blood sugar showed poor control, and their fat cells were showing signs that lead to metabolic changes and disrupted nutritional balance that can cause poor overall health. In those who exercised daily, however, the negative effects of overeating were less pronounced.
The study brought good news and bad news to those who tend to overindulge. Though regular exercise can help slow negative health impacts cause by overeating, it’s still going to impact you negatively. Not only that, but this study showed once again that consuming too many calories paired with inactivity is incredibly detrimental to overall health. And these effects can begin in a week.
Jean-Philippe Walhin, another researcher on the study said, “Our research demonstrates that a short period of over-consumption and reduced physical activity leads to very profound negative changes in a variety of physiological systems – but that a daily bout of exercise stops most of these negative changes from taking place.”
To combat the effects of eating too much, try incorporating a small workout into your daily life. Whether you do yoga, go for a run, lift weights, or even go play in the snow, know that you’re doing your body a world of good.
Overeating is going to impact your health negatively whether you do it for a week or your entire life. Happily, if you’re just an occasional binger over the holidays, you can prevent the worst of the health damage by keeping up a daily exercise routine.
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