Exercise has many benefits that can improve the quality of your life. It can help you control your weight, increase your strength and endurance, improve your mood, and lower your risk of developing many health conditions. However, you can exercise too much. In fact, exercise addiction is a real thing.
What is Exercise Addiction?
Exercise addiction is a mental health condition characterized by an obsessive need to exercise. People who are addicted to exercise may exercise for hours on end, even when they are injured or sick. They may also neglect their work, relationships, and other responsibilities in order to exercise.
What Are Some Symptoms of Exercise Addiction?
Making exercise a priority in your life doesn’t mean you’re suffering from exercise addiction. However, when exercise begins to interfere with your daily life, then there may be an issue. Here are some of the symptoms of exercise addiction:
- A compulsive need to exercise
- Difficulty controlling how much you exercise
- Exercising despite having an injury or illness
- Neglecting your work, relationships, and other responsibilities
- Exercising to cope with stress, anxiety, or depression
- Feeling guilty or ashamed when you don’t exercise
- Lying about how much you exercise
- Mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder
What Are Some Risks Associated With Exercise Addiction?
Exercise addiction is a serious mental health condition that can have a number of negative consequences. Some of the risks associated with exercise addiction include:
- Physical injuries such as stress fractures, tendonitis, and muscle strains could be severe and require surgery
- Burnout which is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion that makes it difficult to work or enjoy life
- Worsen existing mental health problems, such as anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Potentially develop new mental health problems, such as eating disorders
- Social isolation
- Neglect relationships and other responsibilities in order to exercise
5 Tips To Overcome Exercise Addiction
If you’re exercising for hours on end, then it’s going to be difficult to cut back all at once. However, recognizing that you may be addicted to exercise is an important first step to restart your fitness goals. Here are some tips to help you overcome exercise addiction:
Identify Your Triggers
It’s important to identify what triggers you to want to exercise. What feelings, thoughts, or situations cause you to exercise? If you’re already exercising, do these feelings or thoughts push you to work harder?
One strategy is to create a list of your triggers and develop a plan to deal with them. For example, if you exercise when you’re bored, schedule other activities instead. If you exercise to cope with stress, then look for ways to reduce stress in your life.
Set Realistic Goals
The root of your exercise addiction could be because of your goals. For example, a poor body image can lead to unrealistic expectations. If you exercise only to lose weight, what happens when you reach your goal? Will you stop exercising or keep exercising out of fear you’ll gain weight? Fortunately, maintaining a healthy weight and feeling better about yourself happens without much effort when you have a healthy exercise habit and a reasonable diet.
You don’t have to stop exercising unless you’re sick or injured. Instead, set a smaller goal for exercising, such as exercising no more than 30 to 45 minutes three to five times a week. This will help reduce your exercise to a healthy level. In fact, keep a fitness journal to track your progress.
Find Other Activities That You Enjoy
Instead of exercising, try to pursue other activities when you feel like you have to exercise, especially if you already have exercised, feel tired, or are injured. For example, you could visit friends and family, pursue other hobbies, or volunteer. When you have other things to focus on, you’ll be less likely to turn to exercise as a way to cope with stress or boredom.
Seek Professional Help
Any addiction is serious. Exercise addiction is no different. Unfortunately, addictions can be difficult to overcome on your own. If you’re struggling, then seek professional help. A therapist can help you understand the root of your addiction and help develop strategies for recovery.
Also, consider joining a support group for people with exercise addiction. This can help you connect with others who understand what you’re going through and support you when needed.
Be Patient With Yourself
Recovery from exercise addiction takes time. Don’t get discouraged if you have setbacks along the way. Just keep moving forward and focus on your goals. It’s normal to slip up from time to time. If you do, don’t beat yourself up about it. Instead, recognize it and keep moving forward.
Sometimes, it helps to recognize a small win. One strategy is to reward yourself when you resist one of your habit triggers. As a result, this can help you stay motivated and on track. Your reward doesn’t have to be anything big. For example, it could be something like taking a few minutes to relax, simply recognizing the moment, or watching your favorite TV show.
The Takeaway
Exercise addiction is real and can cause serious mental and physical harm. If you believe you’re suffering from exercise addiction, then you can try to overcome it by identifying your triggers, setting reasonable goals, and finding other activities to do. However, you should contact your doctor or join a support group if you need help.
Regardless of which path you choose to break your exercise addiction, remember that it takes time and effort. Don’t expect to change overnight. Just keep working on improving yourself a little bit every day, and you’ll eventually engage in healthier exercise habits.
FitTrend’s mission is to help you along your self-improvement journey, promote an active lifestyle, and help you achieve your goals. Our journal can help you track your workouts, weight, mood, calories, and more. Also, FitTrend allows you to connect supported gadgets to your account to make it easier for you to update your journal automatically. Create your account today and start using FitTrend for free!
Disclaimer: No content on this site should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
