Symptoms, signs, and explanation: what is compulsive exercise?

When the human body engages in healthy, strenuous exercise, the blood levels of the neurotransmitters classified as endorphins rise noticeably. This occurs for a number of reasons, among them to dull the ordinary pain of exercise, but it also serves to give the body a psychological reward for activity. When an individual becomes apparently dependent upon the "reward" chemicals that result from exercise, the result is a behavioral condition called exercise compulsion, or anorexia athletica.

Obviously, this does not equate exercise to drug use. Exercise is good for the body, so long as one does not take it beyond an extreme. The main difficulty that arises in cases of compulsive exercise is not physiological, as with drug use, but rather psychological. Exercise can, in some individuals with this compulsion, become a force that shadows out all others in their lives, taking the place of social relationships and other pursuits. In most respects, it takes on the symptoms of most other forms of addiction. Any question of the individual's habits, or anything that hinders them is met with defensive behavior; habits are understated to hide the severity of the individual's need.

There are good medical reasons for the likeness of compulsive exercise to addiction. The endorphin rise brought on by repeated, strenuous exercise gives the same sort of temporary high associated with the use of any number of euphoric drugs. An individual can become psychologically or physiologically dependent upon this endorphin rise as the body and brain become accustomed to higher levels of the pleasing neurotransmitter, and are then stripped of it during periods of inactivity.

However, the chemical benefits of compulsive exercise are usually secondary to the greater psychological factors at work behind the dependency. Feelings of low-self esteem, poor physical condition despite obvious good health and appearance, and the presence of eating disorders along with exercise that goes beyond the scope of normal good health may be indicators of this disorder. Many people with the condition exercise because it allows them to exert an element of control over their lives, which they may otherwise feel to be in disarray. It is an exhibition of personal power that may help to compensate, psychologically, for other feelings of inefficacy. Depression, anger, and anxiety may be worked out with physical activity.

One risk involved with anorexia athletica aside from the more obvious psychological risks would be the potential to do actual physical harm in the process of undergoing excessive exercise, especially if the condition is coupled with an eating disorder. While most athletic injuries are temporary, one may more seriously injure his or her self if, under weakened conditions of self-imposed poor nutrition, one stretches or tears a muscle or joint.

More importantly, though, compulsive exercise habits in the long term tend not to improve depression, low-self esteem, and the perception of a lack of control, but effectually exacerbate them. The condition tends to worsen before it improves, and its impact upon an individual's life will become more and more apparent as time goes on. It may be easier to cope with the disorder before it gets out of control. For this reason, if there are any suspicions that a child or loved one suffers from anorexia athletica, treatment should be sought before the symptoms reach their peak.