Another pursuit in which passion and pressure commonly collide is athletics, where burnout is one of the main reasons why everyone—from kids to weekend warriors to professional athletes—quits playing sports. So frequently do athletes push themselves too hard without taking a break that there is even a medical term for it: overtraining syndrome. In overtraining syndrome, the central nervous system is thrown out of whack, yielding a cascade of negative biological effects. Ultimately, overtraining syndrome results in deep fatigue, illness, injury, and performance decline. It’s the body’s way of
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