Exercise is often thought of in a positive light. It is common belief in today’s society that a healthy diet and a regular exercise routine will lead to a long, healthy life. And in the simplest sense of the word, it will. It has been a tried and true method to control and lose weight, lift a person’s mood, boost energy, combat a variety of health conditions and diseases, promote better sleep patterns, and even increase libido. (Mayo Clinic, July 23, 2011). So with all of these being possible and probable benefits of working out, why would it possibly be anything other than good? Certainly, something with so many benefits can’t be a bad thing? However, we may overlook the fact that it is like any good thing; in excess it can become dangerous very quickly. In society, there are increasingly more athletes that are pushing themselves so hard to the point they are making themselves sick. Whatever happened to exercising for simple joy, or competing because of a love for sport? The motivations behind an individual’s exercise habits are directly related to whether they develop an addiction. There is even a term for this over exercising phenomenon: Exercise Addiction, or Exercise Dependence.
Exercise dependence is a craving that a person would experience, manifesting itself in the form of compulsiveness in relation to exercise behaviour. It can show in physiological symptoms, such as withdrawal, or psychological signs like anxiety and depression. (Hausenblaus, Downs. 2000). Some of these psychological symptoms can be observed in anyone who is competitive and/or elite in their chosen sport, but it may not necessarily mean that they are “addicted”. It is not nearly as likely to see such behaviours in moderate exe...
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...iate control that they are more at risk for addiction. Research still needs to clarify many facets of this affliction, so that the general public can access and be educated on the topic. If this is achieved, the incidence of exercise addiction should decrease, and eventually become just a shadow of its current state.
Works Cited
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Carroll, D., S. Rodgers, I. Cockerill, and D. Bamber. "Diagnostic Criteria for Exercise Dependence in
Women." National Centre for Biotechnology Information. British Journal of Sports Medicine, Oct. 2003. Web. 4 Dec. 2011. .
In the book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and The Brain by Dr. John J. Ratey, MD (2008), Ratey discuses how exercise can help treat many mood disorders and how it can help strengthen our brains. This book is divided into ten chapters all with five to ten subsections in them. The chapters include: Welcome to the revolution: A Case Study on Exercise and the brain, Learning, Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Attention Deficit, Addiction, Hormonal Changers, Aging, and the Regimen.
Females have very complex bodies, we are able to bare children, menstruate, and go through menopause just to name a few. Being a woman it’s very important to care for our bodies, but sometimes this isn’t the case. The female athlete triad refers to the interrelationships among energy availability, menstrual function, and bone density. (Pg. 1867) These three topics greatly affect a female athlete or frequent exerciser. The clinical problems that occur are eating disorders, functional hypothalamic amenorrhea, and osteoporosis.
Working out doesn't have to be a chore, it can actually be a place of peace and comfort. Exercising has been changed from a social norm to an activity on the
drugs to enhance your athletic capabilities. Is the game the addiction or the drug? Is it
There are many consequences to playing and training to be the best in one sport. The main risks for kids who specialize in a sport is that they may go through burnout. They do the same sport over and over, and then they have the adults in their life putting pressure on them causing them to burnout. Kids get to the point when they feel helpless and not being able to meet the expectations for the adults , causing them to burnout in their sport. (Rerick 1). Athletes that specialize in one sport are at risk for injuries, these injuries usually happen at growth plates, ligaments, as well as joints. Depending on the sport you play you injuries will be in the shoulder, elbow, knee, or ankle. Today more and more people that specialize in one sport have injuries due to overuse. (UVM Medical Center 1). For children who have been specializing in a sport since they were very young, they may get to the point where playing at practicing and in a game is not fun anymore. With the combination of boredom, pressure to be good, and stress may cause them to drop out of the sport they used to loved. (Hess 2-3). When one sport is not fun or there is too much stress involved it could cause them to give it up. Pressure gets to kids and can make the sport they love become the sport they don't like anymore.
Weight, L. M. & T. D. Noakes. (1987) Is running an analog of anorexia? Medicine and Science in Sport and Exer-cise, 19(3)
Exercising makes individuals feel healthier inside and out. Feeling healthier could possibly alter a person’s desire to eat healthier. Although exercise cannot cure a sugar addiction it could take one’s mind off eating sweets. Another benefit of exercising is the possibility of curving the urge for sugar. When an individual is hungry it makes their will power to resist sugar more difficult. Feeding ...
Blumenthal et al. (2007) and Diaz and Motta (2008) conducted empirical studies to prove their hypotheses about the relationship of exercise and mental health. Blumenthal et al. looked at a sample size of 202 adults over the age of 40 and randomly assigned them to one of four groups: (a) group exercise setting, (b) home based exercise group, (c) sertraline group, or (d) placebo group. The participants who were assigned to the exercise groups participated in a 16 week moderate exercise program. The other two groups either received sertraline or a placebo pill. All participants were assessed before, during, and after using the Becks Depression Inventory II [BDI] (Beck, Sheer, & Brown, 1996) and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale [HAM-D] (Williams, 19...
Lutz, R. S., Stults-Kolehmainen, M. A., & Bartholomew, J. B. (2010). Exercise caution when stressed: Stages of change and the stress- exercise participation relationship. Psycology of Sport and Exercise, 11, 560-567.
This paper explores exercise as an addiction. Although many scholars and clinicians tend to differ in their meanings with addiction, this paper examines the many characteristics exercise addiction shares with addictions associated with alcohol and drugs, as well as substance dependence. Exercise addiction shares the same characteristics with other addictions such as withdrawal symptoms, tolerance, control, and an escape. Just as substances can do, an unhealthy behavior like excessive exercising can begin to take over one’s life like any other addiction. It can lead to a point where the person understands there is a problem, but they cannot quit the behavior, which is common with addictions. The researched used in this paper explains that those
All these things and others can be so physically and mentally damaging to these young athletes. Though there are many that can take these things and not be totally affected. But then there are others that can be affected so heavily, and can lose much of their athletic talent due to it. On the other side it can be a great push for athletes. There are many athletes who have a great willpower and put their whole heart into their craft to stay distracted from some harmful addictions that could come their
“The main concept is that exercise (a term we will use generically to cover both exercise training and physical activity) does more than change traditional ‘risk factors’ (blood lipids, hypertension, diabetes, etc.; Mora et al. 2007; Green et al. 2008). In this context, there is a ‘risk factor gap’, and exercise appears to be far more productive than it should be based on changes in traditional risk factors alone.”
Sedentary lifestyles have greatly contributed to obesity, and to the diseases affecting to the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. It has been shown that physical inactivity reduces our strength, results in low energy levels, and causes obesity. It is therefore very essential to ensure we that lead a physically active life. Exercising regularly is the key to a healthy life. However, this is hampered by factors like lack of motivation, time and money.
Adding exercises into one’s daily routines can change their whole lifestyle. Many people look at exercise as being something just for people who want to lose weight or to become muscle bound, but there are a great deal of benefits that can be received from exercising regularly. Of course gaining muscle and losing fat are the two most popular reasons that usually attract people to the gym, but they make up a small part of the potential benefits that can be achieved with exercise. There are several ways in which I have benefited in my life from exercising regularly, besides just making me bigger and stronger. It has made me become more organized, helped me make better decisions, and motivated me to take on new challenges in life.
Exercising helps in many different ways such as gaining muscular strength and ability. A person's desire is to lose weight and have a perfect toned figure, but it also helps ease a lot of other conditions as well. Exercising is considered to be a mood booster. It helps improve self esteem and will lower depression. It will make a person a lot happier, and will help bring a positive reaction in the body. Physical activity is very important for obesity. It is really important for obese children or adults to get some form of exercise in their lives. It can be very beneficial for them and can help prevent long term illnesses. People that exercise on a daily basis do it because it helps them feel more positive about themselves and they will be more energized, motivated and focused for the day. It gives people an excessive amount of happiness.