Beware, sports are addictive. Together with psychologist Victoria Kaylin, we will figure out what sports addiction is and how it affects a person’s life, and at the same time we will make sure that the editors of The Challenger do not have such an addiction (or do they?).
Sports and fitness are an integral part of the life of a modern person. Playing sports builds character, instills teamwork skills, and is generally good for health. Regular physical activity helps to strengthen the cardiovascular system, reduce the risk of osteoporosis and depression, and even prolong life.
The word “addiction” is associated with cigarettes, alcohol and bad habits. It is difficult to imagine that the passion for physical activity can have drawbacks. And yet, even amateur athletes experience post-workout euphoria from time to time. It occurs due to hormones – endorphins and dopamines, which are released into the bloodstream during physical activity and become one of the reasons for the formation of addiction. But there are other factors as well.
What is sports addiction and why is it dangerous?
What is sports addiction
Sports addiction is an unhealthy obsession with exercise. Its symptoms are similar to those of any other addiction, including:
Feeling lifted after a workout
poor health and depressive mood in case there is no training for some reason,
uncontrollable desire to exercise,
giving up other things in favor of training,
inability to reduce the load in a timely manner.
And it is also common for an addicted person to get hung up on sports; engage in addictive behavior, even if you want to stop or physical activity is harmful to health; engage in addictive behavior in secret from others.
Sports addicts rarely notice that something is wrong and, as a result, do not seek help from a psychologist or psychotherapist. And in general, few people take this type of addiction seriously, because there are much more terrible habits. Nevertheless, addiction to sports exists and can greatly poison life.
Victoria Kaylin
psychologist
– It used to be that any addiction is a disease, a mental disorder. Behavioral addiction (habit) from the point of view of neuroscience is no different from alcohol or drugs. But I still believe that the dependence of dependence is different. I’m closer to the theory that addiction to a certain lifestyle is related to the disruption of motivation and reward systems, as well as problems with self-esteem.
As a rule, it all starts with a need – the desire to look good, feel great, catch the admiring glances of fans. However, when the evaluative focus is outside and completely dependent on external perception (with impaired self-esteem), a person is ready to do anything to maintain the image. Then the brakes fail, turning any undertaking into an addiction (an obsessive need. – Approx. ed.). If a person is sure that “slender” equals “handsome”, and “handsome” is a synonym for “successful”, he runs to the gym not for the sake of health, but for the sake of receiving his dose of praise and approval.
