Exercise and Mental Health: Taking Things Too Far
By Cooper Fuller
There is an ever-expanding body of research in psychology that shows the importance of exercise for our mental health. As long ago as 2004, it was found that exercise can reduce depression and anxiety, improve self-esteem, and improve our mental abilities (Callaghan, 2004). Back then, exercise was very rarely used as a form of treatment by mental health professionals (e.g., therapists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, etc.), but it is beginning to be recognized for its beneficial effects on mental health.
In the majority of cases, exercise is nothing but good. Ask yourself: has there ever been a time where you regretted going to the gym? Unless you pushed yourself to the point of injury (or suffered through a grueling leg day where you’re sore for the next week), chances are you’ll answer “no.” And that makes sense! Exercise releases hormones throughout your body that cause you to feel less pain and more pleasure. Additionally, by subjecting your body to voluntary stress (in the form of exercise), it gives your body practice in dealing with stress—and as a result, you become better at handling stressors (Domonell & Burn, 2016). Although exercise is usually an all-around great thing, sometimes it can be taken to extremes—just like anything, really. Let’s take, for example, a man named Aaron, who exercises regularly. Aaron pushes himself past his limits each time he’s at the gym, and he has suffered a few injuries over the past few years as a result. But he won’t let that stop him! Lately, when work, school, or his social life get in the way of him going to the gym, he experiences a lot of distress and fears that he will lose all his progress. He starts spending less time with his friends so that he can make more time for the gym. His grades and work performance also suffer. Aaron exercises under the guise of “good health,” but does this look like good health to you?
Although I’m not a therapist, I’d suspect that Aaron would be diagnosed as “exercise dependent” or as having an “exercise addiction.” People with an exercise addiction have an unhealthy obsession with exercise, which commonly results in injury and/or illness. Exercise addiction is a mental disorder very similar to drug addiction. Like folks who suffer from drug addictions, those who are exercise dependent experience withdrawal symptoms when exercise is unavailable. Exercise becomes their whole world, and their relationships and job performance might suffer as a result, like we saw with Aaron.
Certain groups of people are more likely to experience exercise addiction than others. One such group are competitive bodybuilders (Steele et al., 2019). The nature of their sport is to lift weights to grow huge muscles and to diet down to very low levels of bodyfat. That is to say: to succeed in the sport of bodybuilding, one must exercise and have disciplined nutrition. Since the sport requires the competitors to exercise, it would make sense why they would experience exercise addiction more often than the general populace. It’s like saying a professional wine-taster is more likely to be an alcoholic—if you’re exposed to an addictive thing often, you’re generally more likely to become addicted to it.
Most people who experience exercise addiction don’t have the obligation to exercise that bodybuilders have. Instead, it’s a self-imposed obligation to continue exercising. Those with an exercise addiction typically start out wanting to be physically fit, and then that desire to be fit gets out of control (Stubblefield, 2017). This may also lead to issues with body image (i.e., how one perceives one’s body to look), where one thinks they don’t look physically fit enough, so they keep exercising in an effort to look a certain way.
At this juncture, I would remind you that there is nothing wrong with wanting to look better by exercising. However, exercise is not the be-all, end-all for looking better. Achieving one’s appearance goals is a matter of both exercise and nutrition—and most would say that nutrition is the most important part (I’d agree). It is impossible to ‘out-exercise’ a bad diet. That is to say: no matter how many calories you burn, if you consume more calories than you are burning, you will gain weight.
The foregoing discussion of exercise addiction was mostly a cautionary tale for those of us who are already exercising and have been for years. If you aren’t already exercising regularly, the most important thing for you to do is to get moving. The rewards (mentioned earlier) far outweigh the risks! Just remember that anything can be taken too far, even health and fitness. What we can do to prevent ourselves from reaching those extremes is to set realistic goals. A good rule of thumb is this: whatever your current fitness or appearance goal is, cut that number in half and aim for that; if you can get halfway there, then set a new goal; cut that new goal in half and aim for it…rinse and repeat (Doucette, 2021). Having realistic goals is the way to get the most out of exercise, without taking things too far like our friend, Aaron.
References
Callaghan, P. (2004). Exercise: A neglected intervention in mental health care? Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 11(4), 476–483. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2850.2004.00751.x
Domonell, K., & Burn, D. (2016, January 13). Why endorphins (and exercise) make you happy. CNN Health. Retrieved April 10, 2022, from https://www.cnn.com/2016/01/13/health/endorphins-exercise-cause-happiness/index.html
Doucette, G. (2021, December 11). Is half way there settling? [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeskUuJjoaE
Psychology Today. (n.d.). Body image. Retrieved April 10, 2022, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/body-image
Stubblefield, H. (2017, August 4). Exercise addiction: Causes, risk factors, and symptoms. Healthline. Retrieved April 10, 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/health/exercise-addiction
Steele, I. H., Pope, H. G., & Kanayama, G. (2019). Competitive bodybuilding: Fitness, pathology, or both? Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 27(4), 233–240. https://doi.org/10.1097/hrp.0000000000000211