A qualitative study of the meaning of exercise for people who could be labelled as ‘addicted’ to exercise –can ‘addiction’ be applied to high frequency exercising?

Abstract

This is a qualitative study exploring the meaning of exercise for individuals who could be labelled as ‘addicted’. Sixty people originally volunteered to participate of whom twelve scored above the midpoint on the Exercise Dependence Questionnaire (Ogden, J., Veale, D. and Summers, Z., 1997). Ten people were subsequently interviewed. A grounded theory approach was employed to analyse the data (Strauss, A. and Corbin, J., 1990). Themes that emerged were centred around control, the body, the positive and negative consequences of high frequency exercise and whether exercise is a means to an end or an end in itself. The discussion concentrates on how addiction diminished in relevance and importance for the participants when exploring meanings behind their exercising.