Can Exercise Be An Addiction?

Even exercise can turn into an addiction

Exercise can be a tricky business because you might think when it comes to exercise, there can never be too much. Unless you’re doing extreme sports, exercise addiction might not enter your mind. Exercise is essential for good health, after all. Daily exercise can keep you in shape, maintain stamina, and even give you a feeling of euphoria. Exercise prevents disease and provides an all-around feeling of well-being; it even helps with sleep. But too much exercise, and exercise addiction, can also lead to an unhealthy obsession that can turn deadly, just like any other obsession or addiction.

Exercise has a wide variety of forms, from group sports like baseball and basketball to tennis, dancing, golf, skateboarding, body-building, skiing, jogging, etc. Almost any sport can be taken to an extreme.

What’s the history of exercise?

Exercise has a long history of applications, dating even farther back than the competition of games in ancient Greece 3000 years ago. So training for competition also has a long history. In the 19^th Century exercise for its own sake began to take new forms and capture the public’s imagination. Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, the “father of gymnastics,” invented the parallel bars and gymnastics took off. Charles Atlas (1893-1974) invented body-building. Joseph Pilates and Jack La Lanne created their own fitness programs in the 1930s and 40s. Celebrities from the Olympics and other sports ignited interest. The craze for perfect bodies, good health, and exercise took off as a way of life in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Celebrity fitness, jogging, shows like “The Biggest Loser” and other media promotions inspired personal training and exercise as a way to feel and look good.

What causes exercise addiction?

In case you don’t know, exercise releases endorphins and dopamine. The same neurotransmitters that are released during drug or alcohol use. This creates a reward or high from exercising. If someone who exercises daily were to stop exercising, the neurotransmitters will go away causing the addict to have to exercise more to get the same chemical release.

While exercise addiction can start vert innocently, often simply as a way to lose weight or get fit. Or even be a healthy replacement activity. If someone has body dysmorphia, exercise can quickly turn more sinister and become a compulsive behavior.

How does exercise affect the brain?

Euphoric feelings result from the rapid release of endorphins during intense bouts of exercise. There is a high correlation between exercise addiction and endorphins. Endorphins work by activating opiate receptors in the brain causing pain relief and are also correlated with causing euphoric feelings.

What are the short term effects of exercise?

The decrease of pain and increase in euphoric feelings creates a positive feedback loop associated with exercise, which is thought to be a cause of addiction. This feedback loop also helps to explain why the intensity of exercise increases over time with exercise addiction.

What are the long term effects of exercise?

When more and more exercise is needed to create the same effect, there is anxiety and depression when those needs aren’t met. In order to meet the needs of more and more exercise, the psychological, social, and physical risks of impact on mood, relationships, and the body increase.

Psychological

Anxiety
Depression
Worthlessness
Insomnia

Social

Neglect relationships
Social withdrawal

Physical

Damaged tendons
ligaments, bones
cartilage, and joints
loss of muscle mass Ammhenorea
(females) Osteoperosis Eating Disorders
Gastro-intestinal blood loss and anemia, myocardial infarction and death

Methods of abuse

Exercise dependence/addiction can be described as “physical activity that is extreme in frequency and duration, relatively resistant to change, and often accompanied by an irresistible impulse to exercise even when injury, fatigue, or other personal demands persist.”

What does exercise addiction look like?

Tolerance: there is a need for increased amounts of exercise to achieve desired effect. This means there is a diminished effect over time that creates a demand for more.
Withdrawal: characteristic symptoms occur (e.g., anxiety, fatigue, depression) when exercise is skipped, so exercise must be resumed to relieve or avoid symptoms.
Intention Effect: exercise is often taken in larger amounts, or over a longer period, than was intended.
Lack of Control: a persistent desire or unsuccessful effort to cut down or control exercise.
Time: is spent in planning and executing activities necessary to obtain exercise. Physical activity must be maintained during the day and evening no matter what else is happening in life.
Reduction in Other Activities: social, occupational, or recreational activities are given up or reduced because of exercise
Continuance: exercise is continued despite knowledge of having a persisting/recurring physical or psychological problem that is likely to have been caused, or exacerbated, by the exercise (e.g., continued running despite injury).

Signs and Symptoms of Exercise Dependence

Interferes with daily life, your job, relationships, and physical health.
Missing exercise causes anxiety that something bad will happen.
Ignoring signs of illness, injury or fatigue and continue to exercise despite warnings.
Neglecting friends and family to work out.
Perfectionist body image and attitude toward physical self
Unrealistic and unattainable goals (miles run, hours worked out, calories burned, body fat percentage)