Too Much Training Can Tax Athletes' Brains

"Too much physical exertion appears to make the brain tired."

"That's the conclusion of a study of triathletes published Thursday in the journal Current Biology."

"Researchers found that after several weeks of overtraining, athletes became more likely to choose immediate gratification over long-term rewards. At the same time, brain scans showed the athletes had decreased activity in an area of the brain involved in decision-making."

"The finding could explain why some elite athletes see their performance decline when they work out too much – a phenomenon known as overtraining syndrome."

"The distance runner Alberto Salazar, for example, experienced a mysterious decline after winning the New York Marathon three times and the Boston Marathon once in the early 1980s. Salazar's times fell off even though he was still in his mid 20s and training more than ever."

"Probably [it was] something linked to his brain and his cognitive capacities," says Bastien Blain, an author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at University College London. (Salazar didn't respond to an interview request for this story.)