Exercise addiction, obsessive passion, and the use of nutritional supplements in fitness center attendees

Abstract

Exercise addiction is characterized by excessive and obsessive exercise patterns.New research indicates that the risk of exercise addiction is largely predicted by passion, but most evidence comes from studies employing relatively low sample sizes.The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between addiction, passion, and the use of nutritional supplements, and differences between competing versus non-competing exercisers and exercise in solitude versus with others. We conducted an online survey with 1255 fitness attendees with a mean age of 31.7 years and an average of 7.5 weekly exercise hours. The prevalence of high risk of exercise addiction was 7.7%. Results indicated that obsessive passion was a strong predictor of addiction, accounting for 48% of the variance. The addiction group used the most performance-enhancing nutritional supplements (eg, caffeine and proteins). Those who exercised alone reported higher addiction scores and obsessive passion compared to those who exercised with others. Similar results emerged for competing exercisers compared to non-competing exercisers. This study confirms the strong relationship between exercise addiction and obsessive passion and suggests that those at high risk of addiction consume more nutritional supplements than other exercisers, exercise more for competition, and are more often "lonely wolfs." K E Y

Dimensions of passion and their relationship to the risk of exercise addiction: Cultural and gender differences

“…Further, our findings that OP and HP independently predict REA without interacting with each other account for the greater prevalence of REA in high-OP/low-HP than in the high-HP/low-OP group. Therefore, while high OP, in accord with earlier research ( Kovacsik et al, 2018a , Kovacsik et al, 2018b , Lichtenstein et al, 2020 ), is a strong predictor of the REA, it is still only a partial predictor. Based on the current findings, most high REA cases involve both high OP and high HP, supporting the two-dimensional view of passion.…”

“…These findings suggest that gender differences are likely to exist at a cultural level. Gender differences also emerged in a study of Danish fitness exercisers in OP but not HP, with men scoring higher than women ( Lichtenstein et al, 2020 ). Overall, research on gender, physical activity, and passion is still meager, and their interaction and connection to REA have not been studied.…”

“…Another survey of 360 leisure exercisers ( Kovacsik et al, 2018a , Kovacsik et al, 2018a ) showed that OP was a predictor of the REA while HP had a negligible effect. Comparatively, an extensive study of 1255 fitness attendees ( Lichtenstein et al, 2020 ) reported that OP predicted a significant proportion of variance (48 %) in the REA. Furthermore, a study of 485 university students showed a stronger correlation between the REA and OP than HP on two measures of the REA ( Sicilia et al, 2018 ).…”

Passion for exercise has three dimensions: Psychometric evaluation of The Passion Scale in a Danish fitness sample

“…Participants were invited via advertisement at the Facebook group of the largest Danish fitness company, Fitness World, as well as social media of other fitness groups. The recruitment of participants ran from May to June 2018 and was part of another passion for exercise study 19 . The participants were informed that inclusion criteria were performing regular and purposeful fitness exercise at least once a week.…”

“…The recruitment of participants ran from May to June 2018 and was part of another passion for exercise study. 19 The participants were informed that inclusion criteria were performing regular and purposeful fitness exercise at least once a week. We chose these inclusion criteria because exercise once a week is considered sufficient for health benefits, for example, reduced cardiovascular disease and cancer.…”