By: Alexandra Servia//Contributing Writer
Exercise is a great way to stay in shape, meet new friends and relieve all of the stress and anxiety that is overwhelming your head. But what happens when exercise and eating healthy becomes the outline of your existence and takes over your entire life? Exercise addiction is overlooked by the majority of people. Exercise is linked with positive outcomes, like improving your mind and body. So how can exercise be harmful?
Addictions involve cravings and loss of control while also changing the brain by subverting the way it registers pleasure and then corrupting other normal drives (motivation, learning, etc.). Like drug addictions, some people crave the natural endorphins that are produced while exercising that trigger positive feelings in the brain. There is a fine line between exercising for your health and exercising to satisfy an addiction.
Many of the symptoms that appear in eating disorders are often present in individuals who are exercising excessively. The overwhelming feeling of being fat, the drive to burn off calories, body dissatisfaction, binge eating, avoiding foods and many more symptoms arise in exercise addictions. I’m sure we have all felt one or more of those feelings, but these individuals suffering from this feel it far worse. Women who stop menstruating due to low body fat are at risk of fractures and osteoporosis in the near future. Obsessive exercise is very common among anorexics and bulimic and can be a method of purging. Exercise addictions are often overlooked by health professionals because they are hard to detect. Physicians are always encouraging their patients to exercise and eat healthy every day, but how much is too much? The people who suffer feel like they are obligated to exercise, despite injuries or family conflicts. They tend to put exercise before themselves and even their family members.
The main feature of an exercise disorder is the frequency and intensity of exercises, even if the person is an athlete. If a person goes beyond their required training schedule on a daily basis and push through chronic fatigue without some sort of rest or break, they can be suffering from this very serious addiction no matter who they are. A fast way to tell if someone has an activity disorder is if they show the signs and symptoms of overtraining, which include chronic muscle soreness, decrease in performance, isolation and much more.
Any concerns should be reported to a trusted health professional immediately. Online quizzes may help you determine if you or a loved one has an addiction. Always offer support to those around you who show signs and symptoms and listen to them if they express concern towards you, because you might not realize that you’re engaging in this unhealthy behavior because you always thought exercising excessively might be a good thing. So let’s exercise moderately for all the right reasons and leave the wrong ones behind.
SDA Health is a weekly column from the SDA Club in FIU which talks about health related issues.
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