Anyone can be addicted to sports. Every day the number of people who go in for sports is only growing. It can be fitness, going to the gym or morning run. There is nothing wrong with striving for a healthy lifestyle.

Often, excessive training causes addiction to sports. This is due to the fact that the individual strives to achieve high results for a short time: men tend to increase muscle mass, and girls dream of losing extra pounds.

Causes

Numerous complexes are the main cause of addiction to sports. Sports addiction appears in those who cannot adequately assess the state of their body. Even colossal changes for the better are sometimes not enough for a person to stop spending a lot of free time on fitness and in the gym.

Another cause of addiction is bigorexia - the desire to build muscle mass. It arises due to the fact that the athlete is dissatisfied with his body, painfully perceives issues related to appearance, is dissatisfied after and during training.

Starting to engage in a particular sport, a person hopes that after each training session she will be a huge step closer to her goal. But this is a rather lengthy process. As a result, there is an addiction to exercise. Such an athlete every day spends more and more time in the gym, trying to get as close to perfection as possible.

Any person who has even a slight sports addiction has very low self-esteem. Therefore, progress in sports is very important for them. This helps them improve their self-esteem and assert themselves. So the problem arises in insecure people who try to compensate for their complexes with the ideal view of their body.

Symptoms

The goal of training for ordinary athletes is not just to improve the body, but also to fulfill a clearly defined plan: they special program perform exercises that keep their body in good shape and bring them closer to the goal. People addicted to sports do not have such a plan. When they achieve one goal, they come up with a new, more complex one. And this happens all the time. If you don't follow the plan, you can hurt yourself a lot.

Increased sex drive can also cause sports addiction. Such people think that perfect body will allow them to win over a potential partner.

Sports addicted people have characteristic behavioral traits:

• Any addicted to physical exercise is reverent and patient about sports and every day increases physical activity.
• A person who is obsessed with sports constantly thinks about the upcoming workout and is able to put off important things in order to hit the gym.
• If you deprive him of the opportunity to play sports in conditions convenient for him, his health will worsen.
• When you can't visit gym, the person becomes irritated and conflicted.
• The daily routine is complicated in such a way that the individual has time to visit the hall, despite the many urgent matters.

Signs of overtraining

Among professional athletes, there are often those who are already too tired of the sport. They are overtrained, but this should not be equated with addiction. They are forced to do sports every day by the specifics of their work. Many athletes understand that sometimes it is better not to overtrain than to overtrain. Finding this fine line of an effective, but not too intense workout is very difficult.

All people have a different limit of physical capabilities. Often an overtrained athlete needs a long rest. If you feel very tired after a regular workout, this is the first sign of overtraining. Other signs include:

• decreased physical activity;
• lack of coordination;
• rapid pulse;
• headache;
• gastrointestinal problems;
• weak immunity;
• lack of appetite;
• insomnia;
• vulnerability to nervous breakdowns;
• feeling of apathy.

If you have experienced several of the above symptoms, you must admit that you overdid it with exercise. At this point, you need to find out when you overtrained and what you were doing at that moment. This will allow you to determine what should never be done again.

Even professional athletes can get overtired from constant training, which is accompanied by an unlimited amount of loads. Coaches of such athletes usually insist on taking funds that allow them to endure heavy loads asymptomatically. Such funds adversely affect the health of the athlete.

Any sports addict suffers from overtraining. That this did not happen, this should be monitored by the athlete himself, his coach, and his relatives.

Treatment

Exercise addiction is a problem that the patient cannot get rid of on their own. Not the last role in this process is played by friends and relatives of this person.

Close people should distract a person from sports at least twice a week. They should always remember that the addict always has a busy schedule, which necessarily includes intense training. To disrupt his plans, you can distract him to no less interesting, but necessary activities. This could be housework, meeting up with friends, attending events, etc.

in spring and summer time of the year intense training can be replaced by river rafting or hiking. At such events, the addict will not get tired, but will not completely lose his passion.

To get rid of addiction, it is enough to “interfere” with the patient for a month and change his plans, preventing him from playing sports too often. If relatives achieve that a person will go to training no more than three times a week, then the addiction will disappear without a trace.

Probably, having heard the term “fitness addiction”, many will think that it would be useful to get infected with such an ailment. But we hasten to warn you: although fitness addiction is quite real, it is rarely beneficial for health and beauty. Fitnessaholics go to the gym for a good shape, and acquire a problem no better than obesity or physical inactivity.

“Make a fool pray to God, he will hurt his forehead,” says a well-known proverb. The diligence of fitnessaholics is very similar to the situation described in it. In pursuit of health, and most often - for beauty, such people lose their sense of proportion. In this sense, fitness addiction is akin to anorexia or orthorexia - excessive obsession with healthy food, turning into mania, and sometimes also resembles workaholism.

Fitness addiction is partly due to the fact that during physical exertion the human body produces endorphins - the so-called hormones of happiness. Having experienced a surge of strength and vigor, a person goes to the gym for a portion of endorphins again and again. In itself, this is quite good. Problems begin when a healthy interest in an activity that brings pleasure and benefit begins to transform into a real mania. By striving for perfect harmony and fitness, people often try to heal personal problems - loneliness, family disorder or divorce, career stagnation.

How to distinguish a fitness addiction from a healthy passion for sports? First of all, fitness addicts often have low self-esteem. While many people go to the gym to "get in shape" and don't work too hard on the machines, fitness addicts are usually motivated by an honors complex. A good figure is not enough for them, they strive for perfection. And, accordingly, they consider themselves insufficiently slender, beautiful and generally worthy of attention. They go to the gym to correct themselves.

The next sign of a fitness addict is feeling guilty about missing workouts. No, of course, if you visit the gym once a month, and the rest of the time you are gnawed by vague dissatisfaction for a poorly spent membership, this is not the case. But if you attend training three times a week, but secretly reproach yourself that you didn’t come for the fourth, but rather the fifth time, this is already a reason to be wary. Fitness addicts usually believe that without incredible effort they will immediately get fat and blurry.

Moreover, the fixed idea: to practice, practice and practice again - overshadows considerations of beauty and health. People who are addicted to training often do not adequately evaluate their figure, which is already quite thin. They go to training even with SARS and flu, which is strictly forbidden by doctors, as it has a detrimental effect on the heart and immune system, they buy too expensive subscriptions for the sake of training with a famous coach, they are ready to postpone meetings with friends, urgent work and even dates in order to go to the gym . Fitness becomes the center, the meaning of their lives. As psychologists explain, addiction is a condition in which a person subordinates his life to something or someone without a trace. The fix idea takes the first place, and all other needs are gradually being replaced.

Do you need good body if there is no one to demonstrate it to? ... There is another trap here: fitness addicts are rarely thin. The fact is that too frequent training puts the body into a "stressful" mode. Realizing that difficult days have begun, he “turns on” an increased appetite. It becomes difficult to resist treats and high-calorie dishes. According to the observations of doctors and trainers, most fitness addicts lead a diet that is far from ideal, either starving or overeating. Moreover, for every bun swallowed at night, fitness addicts experience a painful sense of shame, and run to work off extra calories on simulators. The vicious circle closes.

The most common problems are fitness addiction: desocialization, that is, falling out of the social circle, exhaustion of the body, as well as injuries to the joints, ligaments and tendons due to overtraining. Well, and of course, psychological problems that are only getting worse.

Can this mania be cured? Fitness addiction itself is a symptom of another, deeper problem. Someone believes that he or she will be loved only with a perfect, pumped up body, and someone wants to forget about loneliness, walking along the treadmill to the music in the company of the same sports fans. This problem needs to be recognized and eliminated as much as possible. Relatives of fitness addicts can try to talk frankly with them. You should not dissuade a fitness addict from attending trainings, it is better to ask why he likes sports so much and what important fitness has brought to his life. And, of course, you need to emphasize that a loved one is important to you - even without ideal muscles and the ability to lift the barbell twenty times.

Unable to stop, to control their minds, to act rationally, right.

There is an unhealthy addiction, growing into a mania, to food, medicine, work, sex, shopping.

Separately, dependence on physical activity is highlighted: how addiction occurs is discussed in the article.

It is hard to believe that an excessive addiction to a healthy lifestyle can turn into an obsessive activity that is harmful to health.

How sports addiction develops

From childhood, parents try to introduce their beloved child to sports. Some send babies to sport sections, other families go for walks, play badminton, work out on simulators, go skiing, cycling, skating on weekends.

As an adult, everyone chooses how much time to devote to physical activity. To maintain health, it is enough to lead an active lifestyle, walk, do morning exercises.

For many, such a list is not enough to achieve physical perfection - and life changes dramatically.

Having determined their own inferiority, fragile guys, chubby girls head to the gym. At first, they master the simulators, do jogging, exercises, taking into account the recommendations of the coach.

Seeing the long-awaited changes, they suddenly become obsessed with the idea of ​​becoming an ideal in the eyes of others.

Properly structured workouts are being replaced by grueling workouts. Gradually, the load increases, exercises are added.

Thoughts swarm around fitness, my own figure and the next class, although the previous one has not yet ended. There is a dependence on physical activity.

Hyper-enthusiasm for sports, fitness, home workouts leads to excessive production of cortisol by the adrenal glands. The hormone causes stress.

If a low-calorie diet is additionally used, a failed athlete may suddenly lose consciousness, faint.

Dependence on physical exercises, fitness is not easy to diagnose, but psychologists identify specific signs that deserve close attention:

• desire to constantly increase physical exercise to achieve planned results;
• negative attitude to everything that does not allow regular fitness, exercises at home;
• ignoring the instructions of a doctor advising to reduce the load due to health hazards;
• increase in training time;
• neglecting important events in the name of studying in the chosen program.

With the development of sports addiction, the addict looks at photos of his favorite idols in magazines, on Internet portals for a long time, constantly looking for fresh information about them, wants to be equal in everything.

He does not think about why the athlete shakes muscles, exposing own body for show, and how many years he went to this result.

Obsession takes over, reinforced by thoughts that their own results so far are quite insignificant. And they really start to slow down, because the body is used to stress.

It remains to increase them, despite the deterioration of health, constant concern, discontent.

At a certain stage, the dependence on sports is compared with a drug addiction. When training is present daily, a person experiences a sense of satisfaction.

It is worth stopping them for a day, discomfort begins, resembling withdrawal. Anxiety, panic, apathy are added. I want to quit everything, run to the gym, surrender to my favorite simulator.

Conversations with others do not give the proper impact. In addition to the desire to constantly play sports, there is a fear for the state of one's own body.

It seems to the addict that it is worth giving up classes, as the muscles disappear, the waist will spread, the body will become shapeless, there will be overweight. Many reach nervous breakdowns, physical exhaustion.

withdrawal syndrome

Against the background of improperly composed training, a lot of diseases develop. Health is not improving, but constantly deteriorating.

There are problems with breathing, the heart cannot stand, the muscles get tired. Add exhaustion to this. nervous system, constant overload of the brain.

An immediate lifestyle change is required. The withdrawal syndrome appears with a decrease in the number of loads or their absence. It manifests itself like an abstinence syndrome.

Its signs:

1. insomnia;
2. groundless irritability;
3. excessive excitability;
4. depression;
5. imbalance;
6. ideational immobility.

To eliminate the withdrawal syndrome, a return to the athlete’s usual volume of training or an increase in loads that stop withdrawal is required.

Sport is beneficial as long as the activities promote health.

With the appearance of psychological, physical changes leading to depression, disappointment, constant dissatisfaction, we have to state the presence of dependence on sports activities.

Conclusion

The addicted athlete does not experience pleasure. He lives in constant tension, forgetting that between workouts the body needs recovery.

Reserves are quickly depleted, so you should carefully review your own behavior.

If it is impossible to adjust the course of training with a coach, you will have to contact a psychologist who deals with sports addictions.

Video: Exercise Addiction: Symptoms, Consequences, Treatment

Do you go to the gym every day? Can't miss a single workout? Live from class to class? It's time to test your passion. Today we will learn about fitness addicts.

According to experts, regular sports loads can cause serious attachment. In many ways, it is similar to food, but it is much more difficult to recognize it. Yes, and society is more encouraged than not. We treat the habit of cigarettes and drugs more harshly than dumbbells and a treadmill. We will try to figure out whether sports are harmful, whether sports addiction is really dangerous, and how to recognize it.

Background of the question or "it's all hormones"

It is known that physical exercises contribute to the production of endorphins. It improves mood. It turns out that sports addiction is akin to chemical addiction. By the way, this is partly related to the high percentage of alcoholism and drug addiction among former athletes- dependence chemical substances replaces sports. Pleasure hormones are produced almost the same, so the body does not see much difference. According to a number of experts, only in Italy there are about 500 thousand sports "addicts", and this figure is steadily growing. Unfortunately, there are no such statistics for Russia. However, I think that such “in love with sports” certainly exist in our country.

Researchers from the Universities of Siena and Cagliari have come to interesting conclusions: if, for example, a fitness lover suddenly reduces their sports load, the parts of the brain responsible for addiction to alcohol, cigarettes, gambling and computer games. In a third of cases, against this background, anorexia or bulimia may develop, accompanied by an average form of depression. In addition, a fanatical attitude towards physical education inclines some amateur athletes to use steroids and anabolics, which allows them to keep their figure, but, of course, does not add to their health in any way. True, who exactly fell under the definition of "fitness lover" is not specified in the published part of the study.

More often, addiction to sports occurs among young and middle-aged people: athletes and people leading an active lifestyle.

It is necessary to distinguish the dependence on sports from the usual passion for sports. Like any addiction, it crowds out human values. When separated from classes, the addict becomes irritated, depressed, anxious. So sport becomes his only vital need, interest in the world around him, people disappears, degradation occurs in all other areas of human life. However, we will talk more about how to recognize a fitness addict in yourself a little later.

The psychology of the question, or "Forever young"

Lose weight or lose. Under this rigid motto passes the life of many women. The tabloids and TV channels promote eternal youth and beauty, publish photos of beautiful and fit men and women. Perfect beauty taken for granted by a girl. So ladies spend long hours on simulators, fitballs or in company with dumbbells. And by and large, and do not want to. It's just accepted: to be in shape, or at least strive for it. And the irrepressible desire of girls to follow the example of movie stars in order to save by any means physical form can lead to serious health problems.

Good sports activities and active classes sports are indeed a source of self-confidence and emotional stability, but what matters is what price you are willing to pay for appearance. By following the diets of the stars and performing daily grueling exercises in the gym, you can purchase ideal forms. And bundled with them problems with internal organs, a sore back, knees and a worn out organism as a whole. And we go to the gym not only to fit into the coveted size 42 swimsuit, right? In the company of jocks and simulators, you can buy much more valuable things. If your own health is at the forefront for you, then there is no need to talk about any dependence on fitness. But if the main purpose of visiting the hall is ideal figure, this is where you can be concerned.

How to recognize?

First, answer a couple of questions:

● What sounds more tempting: to sit with friends in a cafe or go to the gym?

● Injury - a reason to skip classes? Or an excuse to train a different muscle group?

● Your coach is leaving for a conference. In this regard, the lesson plan will have to change. What are your feelings on this?

● How do you feel about the changes in the training program in general? And if they do not depend on you and lead to a decrease in sets?

Excellent! Thanks for the honest answers! Now compare them with the signs sports addiction, which were selected sports psychologist D. Viil.

So, a fitness addict is distinguished by:

● Hard intention. Athletes feel the need to constantly increase the amount of training.

● Physical activity is required to eliminate anxiety or fatigue. The chief scolded - into the hall. Scandal with a man - in the hall. The heel broke - yes, you know the way.

● Loss of control. Attempts to reduce the number of workouts end in failure. A person simply cannot give up sports.

● Time. The amount of time spent on physical activity is constantly growing. The addict finds himself in the gym more and more often. Moreover, it is these hours that seem to him the most important, determining his daily routine.

● Conflict. If the time of a meeting with friends or a business meeting coincides with the time of the training, the person chooses ... correctly, the training. And he doesn't think too much about the consequences.

Withdrawal symptoms occur in athletes when they are unable to exercise for 24-36 hours. They include anxiety, impatience, guilt, tension, and discomfort. In this state of mind, it is better not to exercise at all, since illiterate training leads to weight gain. characteristic feature the lives of people addicted to sports becomes a distortion of the normal routine and way of life. All their activities are limited to constant training, they do not have enough strength and energy to communicate with loved ones and other things, they continue to increase sports loads, despite injuries and doctor's prohibitions. In addition, their workouts are stereotyped and must be repeated in a strictly planned order and volume. Often they are unable to focus on anything other than training. If you notice signs of too much "love" for the sport, try to figure out what training gives you. The reason for this is probably that something is sorely lacking in life - emotions, impressions, the ability to deal with problems, and not run away from them.

Today, many people take care of their health, go in for sports. All in all, . An important part of a healthy lifestyle is physical activity. It includes: playing sports, in the morning… Today, many people prefer fitness and the gym. Attending training becomes a necessity. This is definitely good. After all, sport gives us excellent figure and good mood. But, it turns out, not everything is so simple. Sports can also become an addiction. It should be noted that this is not a bad addiction. But all-??? in all good measure.

Is there fitness addiction?

Yes, sometimes. It differs from other addictions only in that it does not harm health. But it affects the psyche. You decide to take care of your figure, go to the gym. It wasn't easy at first, but you made it. As time passed, you began to enjoy the activities. Everything is great! This is the ideal option. But some people begin to constantly think about training, increase the load, spend all their free time in gym. Then they begin to look for minor flaws in the figure. They are constantly dissatisfied with themselves. After all, there is no limit to perfection. This is where you need to stop and think.

How to do fitness only with benefit?

Training should be fun. Choose for yourself suitable look training, individually select the intensity and load. Set yourself a specific goal and move towards it.

You should not train more often and more intensely to achieve a quick result. Everything is in good measure. A quick result quickly disappears.

Compare your achievements only with yourself, not with other people. If a friend has lost 5 kilograms, and you're the only one, don't worry. This does not mean that you work poorly, these are individual characteristics of the body.

Why fitness addiction is bad?

Because it's an addiction. You start thinking only about training, figure, results. Gradually, other areas of life fade into the background. You no longer strive to make a career or you do not have enough time for your family.

It can also suffer. Why did you train harder? Because they are not happy with the figure. This reduces self-esteem and self-confidence.

Sports should be fun. Don't be fanatical. Do not chase for a quick result, everything will come gradually. Lead healthy lifestyle life and be happy!