Lit Review

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What is an exercise addiction and how can it be treated efficiently and effectively?

Exercising can better someone’s life, or it can become very hurtful. As people may come to realize the feeling of endorphins, 1% of the entire population, and 10% of high performance runners and body builders, starts to realize the great explosion of feeling happy and energized after a workout, and cannot function without it ("You can stop," 04)("Exercise addiction: Obsessed," ). This kind of compulsion and obsession with working out can be just as destructive as taking drugs. In an article by Mark Warrington, it is explained that exercise can be used to treat other addictions (Warrington, 12). Several people may not know, however, that exercising can be an addiction itself. When realizing that one is putting exercise first on the priorities list, over everything important, he/she may question if this is actually an addiction. In fact, it is, and it is a very serious one indeed.

            Becoming addicted to exercise has been a growing problem in our society. People may look to exercise as an alternative to the addiction that they may have already had. As Warrington states, “Addiction is a huge problem many people go through and it’s very dangerous” (Warrington, 12). Little does he know, that the addictions that he may be talking about in his article, are just as contagious and compulsive as exercise addictions.  Exercise addictions usually begin and continue to be fueled by the fear of being overweight ("You can stop," 04). People may start working out because of the feeling of not being good enough for the rest of society to accept, and because they may not feel good about themselves in general.

            Many people, who actually have this addiction, do not know that they have it at all (Warrington, 12). Recognizing the symptoms to an exercise addiction is the first step into recovery ("Exercise addiction: Obsessed," ). This compulsive addiction is increasing today due to the change in exercise patterns that individuals are currently having. However, exercise addiction is not currently included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Hartney, 03). There are several reasons why this should be considered an addiction, but first people need to understand what the addiction actually consists of.

            One of the most abundant traits that are among those with an exercise addiction is that exercise begins to interfere with all aspects of a person’s life.  This begins to grow over a period of time, which makes it hard to the individual to actually notice it. Exercise then starts to become the most important part of a person’s life, where the individual is putting exercising before work, school, social life, relationships and family ("Exercise addiction: Obsessed," ). The addiction then progresses and the patient becomes anxious to workout along with the uncontrollable need and sensation to get the endorphins to be released into the body. The patient experiences points of withdraw and then starts to control how much exercise the body really needs to function. The neurotransmitters in the brain have then become implicated in exercise, like other addictions (Seymour).

            Exercise addictions are maladaptive, meaning that instead of improving a person’s life, it begins to cause more problems the more it progresses. This addiction can threaten the health of a person. It can cause injuries, physical damage to the body due to inadequate rest, malnutrition and other problems that cause health hazards. Exercise addictions are also persistent, meaning that an exercise addict may exercise too much and for too long without giving his or her body much of a chance to recover fully.  These addicts also exercise for hour every day, regardless of if they feel fatigued or ill.  Anxiety also kicks in if the addict is unable to exercise the way the body needs to (Hartney, 03).

            If one thinks that they may have, or are becoming to have, an exercise addiction, there are symptoms that one can look for. People who are addicted to exercise have several motives to explain their behavior. They may be looking to control body weight or shape, to achieve the feeling of an exercise-induced “high”, or to avoid the feeling of lack of exercise. These addicts also have a very tight knit schedule that they always have to attend to.  When exercise, they do not want to exercise with anyone. They avoid attracting attention of others, and want to be left alone while working out.  Exercise addicts will also exercise when feeling sick or injured, and in the end this will cause more physical problems (Jenkins & Williams). These addicts will also insist on losing sleep, just to make sure that they get their daily workout in. One only feels good when training and exercising, and without it, they may not have a good day. Exercise addicts also believe that eating is only a way to replenish for the next event, workout or race (Allen). In this WebMD article, Ian Cockerill, a sports psychologist at the University of Birmingham, England is quoted about the difference between health exercise and exercise that addicts do.  He says, “Healthy exercisers organize their exercise around their lives, wheras dependents organize their lives round their exercise” (Allen).

            The side effects of an exercise addiction are targeted at two main areas. The side effects hit the physical areas of a person and the psychological effects as well. The physical effects are what one would expect with over exercising, and are the side effects that are shown first.  Over exercising can lead to increased resting heart rate. If one’s resting heart rate has increased more than five beats per minute, over exercising may be something that you may be doing.  An addict may also experience a decreased appetite and unexplained weight loss.  Excessive thirst, especially at night, indicates dehydration. Along with all of this, lack of perspiration may also occur because ones body is already adapted to the regulation of fluids. The psychological effects are stronger than the physical effects. Addicts may not feel usual excitement for a usual fitness regimen or sport, and may not feel mentally and physically prepared for exercise.  Exercise addicts may also experience sleep disturbances, or may feel drowsy during work hours and may not be able to rest at night.  Excessive fatigue, apathy, irritability, hostility, depression, anger and inability to concentrate are all feelings that one may experience while being addicted to exercise (Perna, 07).

            The main question that an addict wants to know is how to overcome an exercise addiction. Addiction is all about losing control of your habits and no longer having the power to overcome the compulsion that your body has set.  Whether one is concerned with achieving the exercise “high” or one is in search of burning calories, over exercising is not a good thing, and this compulsion should be treated like any other addiction (Seymour).  The first initial step to getting over the addiction is to acknowledge you are addicted and commit to quit.  These addicts are advised to stay away from exercise for at least a month. Meditation, yoga and walking may help patients control the desire to workout rigorously. Engaging in other activities such as painting, writing, singing, dancing or gardening are great ways to keep the addicts mind off of exercising, which is ideal for recovery.  If a family member is working with an addict to overcome the addiction, he/she needs to be aware that aggressive behavior may occur when one is prohibited from exercising. Professional assistance is requested upon recovering over an addiction ("Exercise addiction: Obsessed," ).