Compulsive Exercise: when exercise is not longer "medicine"

• Do you find yourself continuing with an exercise regimen despite an injury, illness, fatigue, or poor weather conditions?
• Is your exercise regimen rigid and prioritized over important events or other activities?
• Do you experience feelings of intense?anxiety, irritability, guilt, or distress when you are not able to exercise?
• Do you experience discomfort or distress during periods of rest or inactivity?
• Do you find that exercise has become a method to “get rid of” calories or you use exercise as permission to eat?
• Do you find yourself withdrawing from friends, family, or socializing?

What is compulsive exercise?

It is a craving for physical exercise or training, which results in uncontrollable and excessive behavior around exercise, and has negative consequences.

Despite currently not listed as a condition in the?DSM-5,?a manual that many healthcare professionals use to diagnose mental disorders, there is a link between compulsive exercise and certain traits or conditions, such as perfectionism, eating disorders, and obsessive compulsive disorders.

There are a number of health consequences and risk associated with it, ranging from loss of bone density, persistent sore muscle, chronic joint and bone pain, an increased in injuries such as stress fracture, persistent t fatigue and feeling sluggish to mention few.

I only got to know about this condition most recently.

While I use to spend most of my time supporting clients to introduce more moment into their daily routine, I noticed myself often sitting at the other end of the spectrum.

Things like going for a run despite it was snowing and -2 (degree Celsius) out there and pushing myself even when my body was asking for a break, or setting my PB higher and higher till I got injured and going for a run at the sunrise each morning while on vacation before everyone else was awake, despite feeling sluggish (I discovered afterwards I had COVID!).

There is a link between compulsive exercise and being neurodivergent, although the relationship can vary depending on the specific neurodivergent condition.

• Repetitive behaviors: Autistic individuals often engage in repetitive behaviors or routines. Compulsive exercise might emerge as part of this pattern, as the person may develop a strong need for consistency or the structure it provides in their daily life.
• Self-regulation: ADHD is often associated with challenges in self-regulation, meaning individuals may struggle to control the intensity, frequency, or duration of their exercise, resulting in compulsive behaviors
• Hyper-focusing: Neurodivergent individuals may have intense, focused interests or activities. This hyper-focus could extend to exercise, where an individual may engage in exercise to the point of compulsion
• Coping mechanism: anxiety is a co-occurring condition with neurodivergence. People with anxiety may turn to exercise as a way of managing stress, restlessness, or anxiety.
• Eating disorders: neurodivergent individuals are at higher risks of developing eating disorders. Compulsive exercise can sometimes be tied to an attempt to control body image or weight, especially if there are issues with self-esteem or distorted body perceptions.

Becoming aware of compulsive exercise was a sort of "wake up" call for me! A trigger to explore what was happening with me with the line between excessive exercise and compulsive exercise being a fine one!"

While I do still exercise most days, my exercise routine looks quite different now:

• I run twice a week (down from 4), at a gentler pace and for shorter distances
• I incorporated more exercises that support body-mind connection such as yoga, body balance
• I see walks in nature or school drops still as a mean to get my body moving, while giving it the time to rest and recover
• I introduced a social element to some of my exercise routine by attending a gym class 2 times a week as opposed to see exercise as “solo” activity.

If you are concerned about your excessive exercise regime, reach out for help to your GP or a mental health specialist