"Runnorexia": the modern addiction to running
The practice of physical exercise It produces psychological and physical benefits. The running , specifically: it reduces stress, improves cardiovascular capacity, reduces the risk of suffering diseases, etcetera. Therefore, to have a healthy life, it is advisable that running or practicing physical exercise is part of our lives, as it is an important component of well-being.
But anything taken to the extreme can be harmful , and running is no exception. Currently, the fashion of running leads many people to become obsessed with this practice. Richard Benyo, in an article published in Road Runners Club of America, affirms that "there is a negative side in the practice of physical exercise that, little by little, in an insidious way, can substitute the positive effect".
Running addiction is not the same as overtraining
The runnorexia It is not the same as overtraining . The obsession with running can lead an individual to train too much, which can cause overtraining. The symptoms of overtraining are short-term, and have to do with the period of recovery and rest. In this sense, it can be said that the runnorexia is linked to the Overtraining Syndrome.
Runenorexia or running addiction, on the other hand, is a loss of perspective of the role of physical exercise in the person's life . While a person may suffer a period of overtraining because a major competition is approaching and has improperly planned their set-up, a person with runnorexia suffers from a more serious problem. In this case, there are important psychological aspects: irrational beliefs, low self-esteem, etc.
In addition to these aspects, the social factors they are a causative source of this disorder, because culture and social pressure for aesthetics and image play an important role in the development of this pathology. On the other hand, some experts also claim that there are biological factors that cause this addiction, because there seems to be a connection between the pleasurable chemical substances that the brain releases when practicing physical activity (endorphins, dopamine, etc.) and this disorder, just as it happens with drug addiction. That is, the brain area of the reinforcement is involved in the addictive and obsessive behaviors it is also involved in the runnorexia.
The psychologist Eduardo Carreño, in an interview for the newspaper Asturias 24, explains: "There are two types of addictions: addictions to substances (drugs) and behaviors (addiction to work, shopping, sports, etc.)." As we can see, the case of the addiction to running is a addiction to an activity and the pleasure generated by the practice in question.
Symptoms that the person with runnorexia presents
The person with runnorexia overestimates running, making it the most important element of his life even above family, friends, work, etc.
Is able to cancel appointments or not attend the workplace to go running. Fatigue or injuries do not prevent you from doing your training sessions, since the discomfort you feel if you do not perform these sessions is superior to him. Your free time is meant to run, and his life moves with a single idea in his head : running
The symptoms that it presents are identical to those of the addict to any type of physical exercise (for example, fitness). These symptoms appear when the person can not perform physical activity, and may be: anxiety, depression or irritability.
