A health and fitness blog: With an occasional food item

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Workout addicts


It seems there's an addiction to most everything, and here we have exercise addiction, aka exercise bulemia. (It's true, some among us work out TOO much.) This Newsweek article focuses on a possible next phase: monitoring machines to see who's on them and for how long. The focus here is on college students, but certainly people older and younger can suffer from it. As far as monitoring people at the gym, the Privacy Police would say something like, "Wait a minute. You can't just have gym personnel coldly confronting someone on the treadmill. And is it really their business?" From my armchair view, a confrontation for such an addict would best be done by a person whom the addict trusts--or knows at least somewhat, as in the case of the professor and student described in the story.
Safe to say, someone who works out more than 2 hours a day, most days in a week, has an issue; (unless of course the person is an athlete or one in some type of training mode.) Instructors at my gym have said the benefits decrease exponentially the longer you work out (meaning more than 90 minutes in one session.) What do you think? And take this quiz:
ARE YOU AN EXERCISE JUNKIE?
If you answer 'yes' to more than three or four questions then it may be worth getting further information about exercise addiction.

Is your need to exercise increasing?
Do you spend time planning/manipulating to increase exercise 'opportunities'?
Do you fantasise about exercising when involved in other activities?
Having exercised do you feel relief/euphoria in anticipation of the next occasion?
Do you experience depression/anxiety/anger when prevented from exercising?
Can exercise take precedence over social life/family/ relationships/work/non exercise-associated leisure activities?
Has your need to prioritise exercise caused arguments?
Have you ever been dishonest/surreptitious about time spent exercising?
When you encounter a problem is your first impulse to exercise?
Is exercise becoming your prime means of coping with stress and tension?
Do you engage in inner 'dialogues' justifying/rationalising your need to exercise?
--health.uk.msn.com

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