Health nut or is it an addiction?

Have you ever wondered if you were a gym rat or just taking good care of yourself? Do your family or friends say that you have a problem? It is very true that one can suffer from becoming obsessed with working out and dieting! I disorder that is called obligatory exercise or exercise bulimia, an exercise addiction. It is not just someone who likes to workout or is a very healthy eater. It is an extreme obsession that control the persons entire life.

The syndrome is most common among high-endurance athletes, such as runners and triathletes, as well as gymnasts, bodybuilders, weight lifters, wrestlers and dancers. According to David Coppel, a sports psychologist and professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, exercise addiction affects about one percent of the population, though the tendency toward compulsive exercise may be more widespread. “The line between a healthy attitude and an unhealthy compulsion to exercise is determined not necessarily by how much you exercise but by what happens if you can’t exercise,” he says.
Exercise addicts crave the endorphin release – followed by exhaustion – just to feel normal. And, like any addict, they experience withdrawal if they can’t exercise, including mood swings, anxiety, excessive guilt and even bouts of depression. They can’t deal with the emotional fallout of skipping a workout. And because they almost always choose exercise over anything else, it’s not uncommon for them to have strained relationships with spouses, friends and even employers (especially if they make it a habit to leave work early to get their workouts in).

No Rest for the Addicted
“Exercise addicts and people who over-train think only exhaustive exercise is beneficial,” says Renee Jeffreys, a clinical exercise physiologist with the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. “They don’t understand rest cycles and don’t allow their bodies time to recover.” Basic physiology tells us that building strength is a matter of shortening and lengthening your muscles: when you break them down, they come back stronger. “But whenever you break muscles down, there is trauma at the cellular level,” explains Jeffreys. “If you never rest, you don’t give your muscles time to recover and get stronger.”

Back in the drivers seat
Treating exercise addiction is a matter of empowering the person so that exercise can once again become a free choice, says Coppel. This can be achieved through therapy and, in many cases it may be the only true exercise addict can work through her issues.
But exercise habits exist along a continuum, and many people have some compulsive tendencies –they may not be crippling, but they may be harmful to your self-esteem. Reflecting on yourself honestly, reassessing your exercise goals and listening to your body is the best medicine to prevent that slippery slide into full-blown addiction. It’s also about changing your mindset to focus on fitness, rather than appearance.
Judi Ketteler, Arthur of article Gym Obsessions