Exercise addiction, also known as compulsive exercise, is characterized by using exercise to get rid of calories. This behavior is also known as exercise bulimia because the person is using exercise to purge calories from his or her system. The compulsive exerciser might also eat compulsively, restrict food, throw up, and/or take laxatives, diet pills, or other drugs, or any combination of these. Compulsive exercise is a bit different from other eating disorders: it can be a lot easier to hide. Students learn the common signs of eating disorders, when exercise becomes compulsive, the dangers of exercise addiction, trigger factors, and psychological, social, family, and biological factors of the condition. This book also provides helpful suggestions for treatment and getting help.

Discusses addiction to exercise, its relationship to such eating disorders as bulimia and anorexia, its causes, and treatment options.

Designed for individuals concerned about their workout habits, personal trainers, family and friends of folks with a problem, as well as working mental health professionals treating exercise addicts, The Truth About Exercise Addiction provides an easy-to-read, illuminating glimpse into the rising trend of over-exercise. Delving into the history of exercise addiction and the growing influence of “thinspiration,” Katherine Schreiber and Heather A. Hausenblasillustrate the symptoms and dangers of obsessive exercise with true stories from sufferers, all while exploring why and how such a seemingly healthy behavior morphs into a dangerous means of self-destruction. Analyzing the causes and consequences of excessive physical activity alongside the influence of genetics, culture, and personality, this book allows readers to gain a greater understanding of what exercise addiction looks and feels like. The Truth About Exercise Addiction also provides an unprecedented list of resources to address exercise addiction, a snapshot of treatments currently available for sufferers, and to top it off: guidelines on how to confront and care for someone who may have a problem.

Many people who don’t have migraines think of them as mere headaches. For those who do have them, it’s a very different story. This book sheds light on the truly debilitating symptoms of migraines and offers ways to treat them.

Explains what eating disorders are, why athletes are susceptible to the condition and how to prevent and combat the problem.

There is no right way to characterize an addictive personality. Some researchers consider the concept of addictive personality controversial, as there are no personality traits that predict addiction. Other researchers argue that an addictive personality is created from the illness of addiction. It is a change resulting from the addictive process that takes place within a person. The signs of change, such as depression, irritability, and paranoia, emerge from the addictive process in the same way other long-term illnesses can change a person’s personality. Students learn about the forms of psychological and physiological addiction and their consequences. The book provides steps for treatment and recovery, too.

In 2000, Peach Friedman, a college senior freshly broken up from her boyfriend, set out to beat the blues by beating herself into shape. Running ten miles a day and taking in as little as 800 calories, she fell from 146 pounds to 100 in three months and was at serious risk of cardiac arrest. What Friedman suffered from was exercise bulimia—a newly diagnosed and rapidly spreading eating disorder that affects some 400,000 American women, and which gyms and colleges across America are beginning to take seriously. In Diary of an Exercise Addict Friedman recounts her descent into a life-threatening illness, her remarkable recovery, and the setbacks along the way. With refreshing candor she lays bare her relationships with family, friends, and lovers and the repressed desire that finally surfaced as she found her own way back to health.