No Such Thing as a Healthy Addiction

Most people struggle to fit more exercise in their lives. But for an exercise addict, too much is never enough.
I read about exercise addiction about 10 years in a Glamour magazine. It’s nothing new, unfortunately. It is an uncommon diagnosis, but not as uncommon as I thought.
Dr. Meredith Bean, at Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento, recognized that some of her patients had an addiction to exercise.
Dr. Bean said most of the exercise addicts she sees in her practice are addicted for one of three reasons, the most common being to relieve stress. So, when they’re trying to overcome an addiction to exercise, how to they relieve stress?
I asked this question to Psychology Professor Mitch Darnell who told me the person should replace the activity with a new stress relieve one, such as reading, meditation, deep breathing or even having a glass of wine with their spouse. Darnell said often one addiction is replaced with another, so the person overcoming exercise addiction could become addicted to meditation.
From my understanding, the key factors in overcoming exercise addiction seem to be socializing more, making workouts fun, doing them less frequently and keeping your routine varied.
Both psychologists I spoke to said forming more social connections may help someone with exercise addiction.
Exercise addicts often workout alone to be in their own perfectionist world. Adding some group activities to their routine may help overcome this addiction.
Darnell pointed out that he might not label a patient with the word addiction, because of the negative connotations.
Exercise addicts are often perfectionists. I understand why the negative word “addiction” may not set well with someone who has exercise addiction.
Some might even say that an addiction to exercise can’t be a bad thing. Of course, alcohol and drugs are much worse things to be addicted to than exercise.
But psychologically, an addiction is formed when a person is missing something in their lives, or making up for a deep insecurity.
“It becomes a problem when the person is unable to stop,” Bean said.

Darnell explained that an exercise addict may be a perfectionist and want control over their life. But something such as health is impossible to completely control.
“Particularly things around our physical health- we’re still vulnerable,” he said. “We can take supplements and take care of our health and we still die.”

Overall exercise is very healthy. It becomes a problem when it becomes an uncontrollable urge.
I was surprised to hear that some people can live with a mild, controlled case of exercise addiction. But Darnell suggested that anyone who suspects they might have an unhealthy addiction to check with their doctor or therapist to see if their lifestyle is healthy.

“The people who tend to seek help are halfway towards healing anyway,” he said.