While recreational running provides many benefits, it can also cause exercise addiction in some people.
Par Johanna Amselem
© PAUL BRADBURY/CAIA IMAGE/SCIENCE / NEW / Science Photo Library via AFP
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Fsports area was perhaps on your list of good resolutions for this new year. By wanting to do good to your body, you can also do yourself harm. In any case, this is the conclusion of a study published in Frontiers in Psychology. Through this new study, they investigated the relationship between running, well-being and exercise addiction. Researchers have found that running to relieve stress can lead to exercise addiction. Indeed, even in Sunday runners, it is possible to show signs of addiction.
With a central issue: the notion of escape. “Escapism is a daily occurrence in humans, but little is known regarding its motivational underpinnings, how it affects experiences, and the psychological outcomes that flow from it,” Dr.r Frode Stenseng, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, lead author of the paper. Before completing: “The psychological reward of escape is reduced self-awareness, less rumination, and relief from the most pressing or stressful thoughts and emotions. »
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As this study reports, there are several forms of escape: it can act once morest a distraction from problems or as a search for positive experiences. In other words, adaptive escape allows the search for positive experiences – scientists speak of self-expansion – while maladaptive escape allows the avoidance of negative experiences – the study calls this self-suppression.
“These two forms of escape stem from two different states of mind that can promote a positive mood or prevent a negative mood,” notes the researcher. In this study, scientists analyzed data from 227 recreational runners. All completed questionnaires to indicate their escape scale and level of running addiction.
Vicious circle
The researchers found that there were few differences between the runners. While self-suppression and self-expansion were related to exercise addiction, self-expansion was more strongly so: “Self-expansion was positively correlated with subjective well-being, whereas self-suppression was negatively related to well-being. Self-suppression was more strongly related to exercise addiction than self-expansion. The researchers claim that self-suppression was strongly linked to exercise addiction. Neither mode of escape was related to age, gender, or the amount of time a person spent running.
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But, it might be a vicious circle. “It appears that perceived lower well-being may be both a cause and a result of exercise addiction. Addiction might be driven by lower well-being while promoting it,” the study warns. And to complete: “Similarly, the experience of positive self-expansion might be a psychological motive that promotes exercise addiction. »
If further studies are needed to learn more, the Dr Stenseng assures that these “findings can enlighten people in understanding their own motivation and be used for therapeutic purposes for individuals who engage in an inappropriate practice of their activity”.
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