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10
Insight
WHEN YOU EXERCISE TOO MUCH:
EXERCISE ADDICTION
“Pain is just weakness leaving your body.”
These are words that you can imagine a Spartan uttering as
he sparred with his soldier-colleagues in Ancient Greece,
honing themselves into killing machines. But more and
more regular, white-collar men and woman adopt the same
destructive, obsessive attitude to exercise.
Schedules become more and more demanding as addicts
push themselves harder, fearing the dreaded plateau.
Families and commitments get pushed to the side for longer
and more intense work outs. Blogs get flooded with hysterical
questions about calories and bulking-up tips. Inevitably,
injuries occur, putting the addict out of commission, resulting
in depression.
Exercise addiction is under-studied and misunderstood, but,
like any addiction, it results in misery.
The message which has been transmitted by doctors for
years - that everyone should exercise for healthy bodies and
minds - obscures the dangers that too much of a good thing
can be bad. When researching this article, a Google search
resulted in more hits for gyms named “Exercise Addiction”
than it found articles on this modern malaise. This addiction
is being tacitly endorsed by many in the industry.
The causes of exercise addiction are typical of any addiction.
The work outs themselves provide a chemical high that can
be addictive. The planning, research and calorie-counting
fill the addicts’ time and help them avoid thinking about
unpleasant realities in their lives. As their body shape
By Timothy Mottram
Photo by Greg Westfall