For some people, unless they have completed a work out that they feel has really challenged them, they will feel slightly depressed as if they have not done enough and feel dissatisfied. This is not a problem, you can simply make sure that you work a bit harder next time, unless you find that in order to get satisfaction, you are having to increase your hours of exercise, or exercise rate to uncomfortable extremes. You can read about "gym junkies" who feel compelled to go to the gym each day or for many hours a week, and if for any reason they are unable to go, will find that they become cross and agitated.
Usually, people in this predicament have some underlying worry or care that they don't particularly want to have to deal with and so working out in the gym effectively becomes a tension reducer much like taking medicine, and the reality is that using work outs in the gym for this purpose can become addictive.
When the body is subjected to stress, such as when it is faced with a need to perform extreme physical exercise it will pour out chemicals into the system which help to pacify the symptoms of stress and help the body to sustain the effort. The result is that as people accustom themselves to higher and higher levels of performance induced stress, so they also are rewarded by this sudden rush of chemicals that kicks in to relieve symptoms of pain, and gives the body the boost it needs to go the extra mile. This effect is sometimes called a runner's high and many people regard it as being a good thing to achieve.
Very likely this supportive function does of itself no damage at all, but it might enable a person who otherwise might feel exhausted to push themselves that bit further. If this happens occasionally, it probably doesn't matter too much, provided that the person concerned habitually gets plenty of rest and nutritious food. However, warning bells might sound if a person finds themselves working to achieve this runners' high, unsupported by proper food, at the expense of adequate rest.
There is a question as to whether the burning sensation that you feel when working a muscle hard is merely part of a chemical process or represents damage to the muscle tissue caused by overstrain. The whole question of what if any level of pain, experienced in the process of physical exercise can be considered to be a good or acceptable thing certainly causes divided opinions. Some feel that unless they have felt the "burn" that they haven't exercised enough, others take the alternate view, that you should be able to carry on a normal conversation while engaged at any level of physical exercise.
As in many things, people should know for themselves with what level of exercise they feel most comfortable. You should not be carried out on a stretcher, but on the other hand carrying on a conversation from opposite ends of the tennis court might by some be considered detrimental to the game.
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