Activity-based anorexia: A biobehavioral perspective

Abstract

A biobehavioral model of activity‐based anorexia is examined in terms of recent evidence. Strenuous exercise reduces the value of food reinforcement and results in decreased food intake. Reduction of food intake increases the motivational value of physical exercise. This produces an escalation in activity that further suppresses appetite. Cultural practices of diet and exercise initiate this anorexic cycle, and once started the process is resistant to change. These anorexias may be the result of natural selection favoring those organisms that became active in times of food scarcity. Proximate physiological mechanism(s) appear to involve the endogenous opiate system that mediates the relationshp between running and eating. It is argued that classification of human self‐starvation should be based on environmental and/or biological conditions that control food regulation. Activity anorexia may be one instance of such a classification that could account for many instances of “an orexia nervosa”.

Disordered eating behaviour is associated with blunted cortisol and cardiovascular reactions to acute psychological stress

“…The Exercise Attitudes and Beliefs Questionnaire (EABQ) was administered to control for the possible co-morbidity of exercise dependence and disordered eating (Davis et al, 1995(Davis et al, , 1997Epling and Pierce, 1988;Bamber et al, 2000). The EABQ is a 12-item questionnaire generated from the diagnostic criteria of exercise dependence in women proposed by Bamber and her colleagues on the basis of a qualitative study of exercise attitudes and behaviour in 56 female exercisers (Bamber et al, 2003).…”

Low-Dose Olanzapine Monotherapy in Girls with Anorexia Nervosa, Restricting Subtype: Focus on Hyperactivity

“…It is still debated whether hyperactivity is a secondary symptom aimed at consuming calories and losing weight, or if it has a primary and specific role in the clinical picture and outcome of AN (Davis et al 1994;Davis et al 1997). Several studies (Epling and Pierce 1988) support the notion that dieting and exercise are ''sister activities,'' that is, mutually reinforcing and self-perpetuating behaviors. The mutual activation of neurobiologic reward systems is consistent with the observations that hyperactivity is agreeable and rewarding (Gull 1888).…”

Role of HIV-1 Infection in Addictive Behavior: A Study of a HIV-1 Transgenic Rat Model

“…A propensity towards wheel running in rodents is also associated with an increased vulnerability for drug self-administration [40] . Wheel running as a motivated, self-reinforcing, behavior is an especially intriguing behavior because it can escalate to resemble an addiction in and of itself and when the opportunity to run is made available to food deprived rats, self-regulated behavior can breakdown, resulting in excessive running and profound anorexia [41] . These and other behavioral predispositions (impulsivity) may make individuals more vulnerable to drug abuse by hastening the progression toward homeostatic dysregulation [32] .…”