Abstract
Exercise addiction is an extensively studied topic in the sport science and psychology literature as reflected by the more than 1000 papers published in the field. However, only about 12 cases were published in the area, which may suggest that there is difficulty in reaching and studying affected individuals. Relying on the Components Model of Addiction, we performed an extensive search on non-scholar websites (i.e. popular media websites) and identified 100 cases that met the eligibility criteria. These cases reflect the several physical, psychological and social consequences that may accompany the dysfunction, as well as numerous exercise activities to which individuals may become addicted. The findings also raise the question whether women are more affected than men, or perhaps women are more open than men to disclose their problem, as based on the four to one ratio of the identified cases. The current work supports the large volume of research in the field of exercise addiction, because either the prevalence of the dysfunction is greater than expected, or people are more open to disclose their problem on Internet sites.
Highlights
Exercise addiction is an extensively studied topic in the sport science and psychology literature as reflected by the more than 1000 papers published in the field
Relying on the Components Model of Addiction, we performed an extensive search on non-scholar websites and identified 100 cases that met the eligibility criteria
Exercise addiction is listed among behavioural addictions (Egorov and Szabo 2013) like gambling disorder, but due to inconclusive and limited scientific evidence for being a unique mental dysfunction, the condition is not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association 2013)
Summary
Exercise addiction is an extensively studied topic in the sport science and psychology literature as reflected by the more than 1000 papers published in the field. Relying on the Components Model of Addiction, we performed an extensive search on non-scholar websites (i.e. popular media websites) and identified 100 cases that met the eligibility criteria These cases reflect the several physical, psychological and social consequences that may accompany the dysfunction, as well as numerous exercise activities to which individuals may become addicted. In a self-help book about exercise addiction, Schreiber and Hausenblas (2015) present nine cases of exercise addiction, which starts with the case of the first author This latter was published in an academic journal (Hausenblas et al 2017). These cases add up to 12, suggesting that currently there is approximately one identified case of exercise addiction for every100 article published in the area (Szabo and Kovacsik 2019)
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