Also known as compulsive exercise, athletica nervosa, obligatory exercise, and exercise addiction, anorexia is a potentially life-threatening condition. The person with anorexia athletica no longer enjoys exercising, but feels obligated to do so.
Treatment is usually required for this and other forms of anorexia because the conditon is very difficult to overcome and worsens over time.
People who suffer from this condition–most prominently females between the ages of 12 and 19–may experience a sense of guilt and anxiety when missing a workout and not even sickness or injury can stop them from fulfilling their perceived need for exercise.
Individuals with anorexia athletica may:
- Repeatedly exercise beyond the requirements for good health.
- Be fanatical about weight and diet.
- Steal time from work, school, and relationships to exercise.
- Strive to achieve and master ever more difficult challenges
- Forget that physical activity can be fun.
- Define self-worth in terms of performance.
- Rarely be satisfied with athletic achievements. Small satisfactions are fleeting and they do not savor victory; they push on to the next challenge immediately.
- Justify excessive behavior by defining themselves as a "special" or "elite" athlete.
The American College of Sports Medicine offers helpful resources on the female athlete triad. The female athlete triad refers specifically to three related health problems often found in women athletes:
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Finally, after years and years of fighting, I woke up one day and realized I was about to die. Death was rapidly closing in on me when I finally decided to seek help.
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