Exercise addicts crave an exercise ``fix'' the same way that
alcoholics crave a drink. In an age of absorption in self, sex and
body, some push the cultural ideal of a perfect body too far by
obsessing about exercise.
Like a drug or alcohol addict, the exercise addict loses control
and no longer exercises by choice. The daily fix of a workout
becomes obligatory, even if the addict is sick or injured.
Improvement, recordkeeping, calorie and scale-counting become
compulsive behaviors.
Four months ago, Melinda Rau would fume if someone else had
already picked up the morning paper. She was angry because she had
lost the chance to burn a few extra calories.
``I couldn't stop moving,'' says Rau, a recovering anorexic and
exercise addict. She would park her car two complexes over and walk
to her apartment, then take her grocery bags in one by one. ``I
would wear a pedometer to make sure I was walking eight miles over
the course of a day,'' she says.
Rau was suffering from what is known as ``exercise addiction,''
also known as ``activity disorder.'' She became consumed with
calculating how many bicep curls had been performed, staircases
taken and steps walked. Parking on the far side of the supermarket
parking lot was ingrained.
Rau's obsessive pace began in high school as a track star. ``If
I ran I could burn more calories, and I could eat more,'' says Rau,
who would walk four miles before school on the days of track meets.
As a star athlete, she was lionized and congratulated.
Food consumption and fear of weight gain became parallel
obsessions until Rau had all the signs of anorexia nervosa, a
psychological disorder suffered by both sexes that is often
characterized by intentionally denying the body nutrition. The
person literally starves, becoming progressively more gaunt and
waif-like.
Experts say compulsive exercise can trigger a range of physical
and mental health problems: eating disorders, stress fractures,
joint injuries, ligament damage, immune system weakening, and, in
women, menstrual irregularity are among them.
Concentration at work or school can be affected. Abuse of
steroids and weight loss supplements aggravate problems.
When exercise addicts are prevented from a sweat session, they
suffer withdrawal symptoms like irritability, sleeplessness and
overwhelming guilt.
Specialists still aren't sure what causes exercise addiction.
Some suggest that people become addicted to the body's release of
endorphins that provide a feeling of elation after prolonged
exercise. Endorphins, naturally occurring brain chemicals, are
similar to the opiate morphine.
But other experts, including licensed therapist Carolyn Costin,
say the source of the problem runs much deeper.
Costin is a founder and clinical director at Monte Nido
Treatment Center in Malibu, Calif., a private recovery facility
that aims to heal women suffering from anorexia, bulimia, and
exercise addiction.
Costin's own recovery from anorexia informs her own approach to
patient treatment, which is highly individualized.
``Instead of being able to be really intimate with people and
talk about their problems, they use the exercise,'' says Costin.
``They exercise past the point of any positive goals. 'More is
better.'''
Costin says society at large pushes susceptible people to go
overboard in pursuit of an idealized, bodily perfection that is
unrealistic for most. ``There's more gyms, more magazines on
fitness, more billboards about it,'' observes Costin. For exercise
addicts, hi-tech tools add to the problem: ``We have increased ways
to measure things like body fat percentage. Today it's 45 minutes
on the treadmill, tomorrow, it's 50.''
Now in therapy, Rau says she was symbolically running from her
problems. ``I didn't get along with my family, couldn't connect on
an emotional level,'' says Rau who, typical of sufferers, battled
repressed anger and fought depression. ``I couldn't hold a
conversation because my mind was calculating calories.''
Costin says people can overcome exercise addiction with
cognitive and drug therapies. Costin's intervention team helps
sufferers re-learn a lifestyle with healthy amounts of exercise,
balanced food shopping and preparation, and eating.
Talk therapy in individual and group settings gives recovering
addicts the opportunity to deal with unresolved conflict and find
other pursuits that lead to a more balanced life.
After intense treatment, Melinda Rau is reaching a healthier
weight and is finally able to sit still without feeling guilty,
whether talking to family or reading the paper. Her outlook has
profoundly changed.
``Living life is not about measuring how much you've done or
what you are; it's about being in the moment,'' she says.
