Are You an Exercise Addict?

My on-line acquaintance Ella M (who provided me with some Ridiculous Laws fodder for this post from a couple weeks back), also did a good piece about Exercise Addiction, here. 


You should read the whole article, but here were a couple of paragraphs early on that resonated with me:

There are several signs and symptoms of exercise addiction. One of the strongest signs that someone has an exercise addiction is an inability to concentrate on other things because he or she is always thinking about exercise. Some people with this disorder skip classes or take unpaid time off from work to exercise, which interferes with their education and reduces their income. Exercise addiction makes it difficult to carry on a satisfying social life, as people with this disorder often skip special events and activities in order to exercise. Even exercising with other people is difficult, as compulsive exercisers do not like to have their routines disturbed. They would rather exercise on their own so they can control the components and timing of the exercise session.

Exercise addiction stirs several emotions when a person is unable to exercise. Without exercising, a person may feel angry, guilty, or anxious. These feelings may also occur when a compulsive exerciser experiences a disruption in his or her exercise routine. Exercise addiction sometimes accompanies obsessive behaviors surrounding the issues of food and weight, as some exercise addicts work out excessively as a way to control their weight or body fat percentages. They may exercise to punish themselves for eating high-calorie or high-fat foods. When an exercise addict is unable to exercise, he or she may purge calories or implement excessive calorie restrictions.

My personal experiences with Ultrarunning have been largely positive, or at the worst, benign. However...I know some long distance runners who collectively embody virtually every negative effect that Ella mentions in her article. They may be physically fit (or not, depending on how much they overdo the sport, because we Ultrarunners tend to be overdoers), but mentally and emotionally they are not much fun to be around. They tend to hijack very conversation and make it about them and their experiences. 

Sounds like chronic exercise addicts may well need professional help to get their compulsions under control. No shame here, I've sought professional help for other issues and highly endorse it. You just can't be an expert on everything, and especially in the realm of mental health, I figure you may as well try getting help from a pro. 

At Last, Scientific Proof that Outdoor Exercise is Good for You

At last, scientific proof that outdoor exercise is good for you.  Not just exercise--duh--but OUTDOOR exercise.

I came to this article by a circuitous route. All I have to say--just as President Theodore Roosevelt surely did 100+ years ago--is "Bully for the Internet!"

I was originally surfing the political blog, Andrew Sullivan's The Daily Dish, where I was intrigued by this post, entitled Get off That Treadmill. Then I clicked over to the referenced BBC news story for 1 May 2010, and from there with some effort was able to drill down to the original article in the American Chemical Society's bi-weekly journal, Environment Science and Technology, 25 March 2010.

That article is entitled What is the Best Dose of Nature and Green Exercise for Improving Mental Health? A Multi-Study Analysis.

Here are the money quotes from the BBC article:

Just five minutes of exercise in a "green space" such as a park can boost mental health, researchers claim.

There is growing evidence that combining activities such as walking or cycling with nature boosts well-being.

In the latest analysis, UK researchers looked at evidence from 1,250 people in 10 studies and found fast improvements in mood and self-esteem.

The study in the Environmental Science and Technology journal suggested the strongest impact was on young people.

The research looked at many different outdoor activities including walking, gardening, cycling, fishing, boating, horse-riding and farming in locations such as a park, garden or nature trail.

The biggest effect was seen within just five minutes.

With longer periods of time exercising in a green environment, the positive effects were clearly apparent but were of a smaller magnitude, the study found.

Looking at men and women of different ages, the researchers found the health changes - physical and mental - were particularly strong in the young and the mentally-ill.

A bigger effect was seen with exercise in an area that also contained water - such as a lake or river.

Comments: ultrarunning is NOT mentioned, but presumably it'd fall into the category of "exercise."  The young and the mentally ill benefit most from exercise. Since I'm not young, and I would say that I benefit from exercise, then I guess by default I must be mentally ill.

Snark aside, we who run in the woods already know that this is true, but it's great to see it documented in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.  Also I loved the point that exercising near water is very effective.  We ultrarunners, of course, already knew that.