Everyone has had heard about the “Obesity Epidemic” and the hazards of a sedentary lifestyle, but there is a flip side of the coin—people who exercise too much. We’ve all seen them: the emaciated woman who jogs along the same path seven days a week, including holidays, or the guy with the knee braces, who continues to workout even with an injury. Despite the lack of public awareness about excessive exercise, it manifests in a variety of ways and can have serious medical and emotional consequences.

In our society, exercise is viewed as a positive behavior, but is it possible to get too much of a good thing? “Determining whether or not an individual’s exercise regime is excessive can be a complicated process,” explains the authors of a new book, The Exercise Balance (Gürze Books 2008), which looks at the extreme ends of the spectrum.

Pauline Powers is a psychiatrist who has worked with eating disorders patients for the past 30 years. As medical director of Fairwinds Residential Treatment Center in Clearwater, Florida, she has seen the devastating ways that anorexics use “activity anorexia” to lose weight. “We have patients who would do jumping jacks in their rooms for hours on end if our staff didn’t keep an eye on them.”

Her coauthor, psychologist Ron Thompson, has advised the NCAA and Olympic Committee Medical Commission on the dangers of overtraining. “Unfortunately, many athletes believe that a decline in performance due to staleness is a result of not training hard enough and will increase their workouts, which in reality, makes the problem worse.”

In addition to weight loss or athletic training, there can be other psychological causes for overdoing it. Powers and Thompson point out that “compulsive exercisers” often suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and engage in a variety of rituals that compel them to exercise in the same way and at the same time every day. They may seem to be functional and healthy, but rely on their routine to help them cope with negative emotional states, such as fear, guilt, or anxiety. “Obligatory exercisers” will work out regardless of the circumstances, including times that they are ill or injured. These are the people who are running down the street in the pouring rain.

In the same way that underexercisers suffer from a variety of problems, including obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, there are dangers associated with excessive exercise. Women are particularly susceptible to “The Female Athlete Triad,” which includes symptoms of disordered eating (from simple dieting to clinical eating disorders), amenorrhea (loss of menstrual periods), and osteoporosis (loss of bone density). Decreased immune function is common in both men and women, and the possibility of “sudden arrhythmia death syndrome” can exist without previously recognized heart problems.

Ultra-endurance athletes are the extreme of the extreme. Take for example the competitors of the Badwater Ultramarathon, a 135-mile race through Death Valley, California, that finishes halfway up Mount Whitney and usually takes place in July when the heat is most severe. These racers may be praised for their commitment, but the truth is that they are engaging in unbalanced, unhealthy behavior. “The time to train for such an event would make having a normal life with a job and satisfying relationships difficult, if not impossible,” says Powers, “Where does it end?”

In The Exercise Balance, specific guidelines are provided for moderating excessive exercise. As is the case for any type of behavioral change, the first step is gaining an awareness of the problem and admitting that it must be addressed. From there, concrete tools like personal exercise logs, journal writing, talk therapy, and relaxation skills can be used to discover a healthier, balanced level of exercise. 

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Leigh Cohn is the author of numerous books, including Making Weight: Men’s Conflicts with Food, Weight, Shape & Appearance. He may be reached at Leigh@gurze.net.

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