Fit Life Or Exercise Addiction?

With all of the advances in technology and fitness, it’s easy to get caught up in doing the most in an attempt to eat right, shed unwanted pounds or even maintain the beautiful skin you’re in. After all, there’s a fine line between living a fit life and developing an eating (or even an exercise) disorder, according to experts.

What is exercise addiction?

Believe it or not, while exercise is mostly seen as a healthy habit – even crucial for areas of recovery from certain types of addiction - when dedication evolves into compulsion, it can be both physically and psychologically damaging.

However, it’s rare, says exercise addiction expert Heather A. Hausenblas, PhD, who states that an estimated 0.3% of the total U.S. population are at risk of developing one of two forms of fitness infatuation.

Primary exercise addiction: Where the physical activity in itself is the gratification
Secondary exercise addiction: Physical activity is secondary to an eating disorder and used to control and manipulate weight, research published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, says.

What distinguishes the everyday gym enthusiast from someone addicted to getting in a high-impact sweat session?

It’s not the time invested but the motivation behind the urge to train that experts say is very telling.

Someone suffering from an addiction may display withdrawal symptoms like anxiety or irritability if he or she skips just one training session. Physical activity is a means of feeling normal; self-medicating.

Other symptoms include:

Inability to reduce or stop despite injury or illness
Interference with work, school and social activities
Sleep disturbance in the absence of exercise
An increase over time to chase the feeling of “calm” or a “buzz”
Emotional sensitivity, difficulty concentrating, reduced self-esteem

While you may not think of the two going hand-in-hand, research shows that exercise addiction often co-occurs with an eating disorder.

In fact, approximately 39% to 48% of people suffering from anorexia, bulimia or another eating disorder also suffer from secondary exercise addiction.

What is an eating disorder?

Defined as a range of psychological disorders characterized by extreme emotions, attitudes and behavior surrounding weight loss and food issues, there are three types of eating disorders:

Bulimia Nervosa: Affects two to three in 100 American women. Studies also indicate that by their first year of college, 4.5 to 18% of women and 0.4% of men have a history of the disease involving distortion of the body, an obsessive desire to lose weight and spells of overeating followed by guilt-induced vomiting or starvation.
Anorexia Nervosa: Affects one in 200 women in the U.S. alone and is the third most common chronic illness among adolescents, characterized by lack or loss of appetite.
Binge Eating Disorder: Commonly called BED, binge eating disorder is the most common eating disorder in the United States, affecting 3.5% of women, 2% of men and up to 1.6 percent adolescents; who experience guilt or distress following recurrent episodes to consume large quantities of food – often to the point of discomfort.

Believe it or not, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness (including depression) says the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD). Shockingly, only 1 in 10 sufferers ever receive treatment.

When to Get Help

Here’s how to take a quick and easy inventory of your symptoms. The “Exercise Addiction Inventory” (EAI), developed by psychologist Mark Griffiths, PhD, is a six-item questionnaire to pinpoint possible problem areas.

Answers are rated on a five-point scale, including strongly disagree (1) disagree (2) uncertain (3) agree (4) strongly agree (5).

Those most at risk of exercise addiction would score 24 or more out of 30; those with a score of 13 to 23 are at potential risk; and those with a score of 0 to 12 are very unlikely to have an addiction to exercise.

Exercise is the most important thing in my life.
Conflicts have arisen between me and my partner about the amount of exercise I do.
I use exercise as a way of changing my mood (e.g., to get a buzz/to escape).
Over time I have increased the amount of exercise I do in a day.
If I have to miss an exercise session I feel moody and irritable.
If I cut down the amount of exercise I do and then start again, I always end up exercising as often as I did before.

If you or a loved one is also showing signs of recurrent migraines, loss of appetite, depression, reduced self-esteem, sleep problems, or apathy, you may be suffering from an underlying eating disorder and should seek treatment immediately.