When running becomes an unhealthy obsession

ONE of my running mates is obsessed with his trophy case on Strava – that is, the fitness activity tracking app on which users can earn virtual “badges” for completing different challenges.

My friend plans his exercise routine meticulously such that each run or ride will add at least 1 badge into the trophy case. He includes these challenges into his daily calendar to make sure he completes them. Some of the crazy things he has done to earn the badges include planning a marathon across Singapore in midday heat and running while confined in a hotel room during a 2-week quarantine.

He has also talked about feeling troubled whenever the rain foils his running plans, and fears that poor weather the following days would wreck his exercise routine several days on end. To be clear, I’m talking about someone who exercises daily. He has run over 2,000 km and biked almost 7,000 km in 2022 thus far. Do the math, and you’ll see I’m not using the word “obsessed” lightly.

Exercise dependency, or exercise compulsion, is increasingly being recognised by clinicians and researchers. I cannot say for certain that this is what characterises my friend’s fitness habits, but recent conversations with him brought to mind similar personal experiences that I hope remain in the past.

There was a time when my days could not start without a run. I’d pound the pavements rain or shine; if the weather was poor in the morning, I would change or cancel other plans so that I could fit a run in, somehow. I ran through an extensive bout of shin splints until even walking hurt. Shin splints are a common injury caused by repetitive stress on the shinbone and its connective tissues. At that point, I had tried various running insoles and seen different physiotherapists, a podiatrist, a traditional Chinese medicine clinician and a senior sports consultant – and thus forked out hefty fees for someone who had just started working – hoping to find a quick-fix to get back to running, only to be told that my splints had deteriorated into a stress fracture and the only remedy was to rest. I rested, reluctantly, but could not stop thinking about how much that was a setback to my fitness.

What started out as a healthy hobby became a hindrance to healthy living.

A 2020 study by researchers based in the Netherlands and Australia found that “obsessively passionate” runners – those who let all other commitments take a backseat to accommodate their running experiences – are more likely to report running-related injuries.

These runners disregarded the importance of post-training recovery and were unable to mentally detach from the sport, even when running became harmful, according to the study led by Jan de Jonge, a sports psychology professor based in Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands.

But I realised while resting from the physical injury that I was really dealing with a psychological issue. When a day without running felt worse than chronic shin pain, and when it adversely affected my productivity and moods, I knew my problem was more than shin-deep.

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Katherine Schreiber and Heather Hausenblas, who co-wrote the book The Truth about Exercise Addiction, suggest those who over-exercise seek in their fitness routines a form of control. For some, it might also be a way to feed eating disorders.

Professionals have various suggestions for cultivating a healthier mindset towards exercise, from absolute abstinence, to involving fitness buddies for accountability, to seeking counselling.

For me, it was the physical injury that helped me recalibrate my relationship with running. It made me realise, simply, that this habit I had wrapped my identity and self-worth around would inevitably fail me. It might be a shin injury now, but it could be something more debilitating in the future. What would life look like, then?

I still enjoy running very much, but I’m learning that I’m better off if it were part of my life, and not my whole life.

It can be hard to acknowledge an unhealthy obsession with something that is not only socially acceptable, but actively encouraged. The way #fitspo gets glamourised on social media in this day and age is also not helpful. But these make it all the more important to pay attention to this sort of dependency.

At least for me, weaning off this “addiction” – it is not officially labelled a clinical disorder at this point – made me enjoy running more. But more than that, I learnt to enjoy sleeping in when it’s pouring outside, or to miss a long run after a night of drinks with friends. Life is much more fun this way.