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The Potential Causes And Possible Treatment Of Exercise Addiction

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The potential causes and possible treatment of exercise addiction
Unquestionably, physical activity complements the quality of life for an individual, while exercising on a regular basis results in many benefits. Nevertheless despite the great benefit of sport, many experts commonly agree that physical activity may be harmful. One of the unfavourable areas within sport, which is frequently examined by researchers, is exercise addiction. The predominance of exercise addiction is quite rare in reality, but when present conflicting consequences can be calamitous (De Coverley Veale, 1987; Szabo, 2007).
Szabo (1998) proposed that those addicted to exercise will experience a more compelling withdrawal than dedicated exercisers. A comprehensive manner to distinguish between both sets of individuals may be through the actions and intentions for exercise of the individuals. Exercise addiction between an athlete which is healthy and an exercise addict may be sharing very similar levels of training; the difference is the mental approach and attitude taken by each individual. The individual addicted to exercise is unable to see the real value in unnecessary exercise and is resolute in pursuing his sport despite it being against his best interest.
The definition of exercise addiction is complemented by six common symptoms of exercise addiction: mood modification, salience, withdrawal symptoms, relapse, tolerance and personal conflict (Brown, 1993; Griffiths, 2005).

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