Exercise Addiction Can Mirror Heroin Addiction
There are a number of addictions that can be life threatening, including drug and alcohol. Others, however, are not as much life-threatening as they are life-altering. Many individuals have found themselves addicted to gambling, online activities and even gaming.
Now, a Science Daily report suggests that extreme exercise may be physically addicting. This report summarized a study in which rats were given a drug that produces withdrawal in heroin addicts. The rats then went into withdrawal after running excessively in exercise wheels. Those rats that ran the hardest had the most severe withdrawal symptoms.
Scientists conducting the research suggested that if excessive exercise is addicting, it may be possible for addicts to take moderate exercise instead of drugs. This study also focused on the potentially fatal eating disorder, anorexia athletica. A person with this condition uses exercise to shed pounds and the practice becomes as compulsive as taking drugs, producing even greater weight loss.
"Excessive running shares similarities with drug-taking behavior," the researchers wrote in the August issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, published by the American Psychological Association.
"As with food intake and other parts of life, moderation seems to be the key. Exercise, as long as it doesn't interfere with other aspects of one's life, is a good thing with respect to both physical and mental health," said lead author Robin Kanarek, PhD, of Tufts University.
When rats were studied, they were separated into both active and inactive groups. Both groups were given naloxone, a medicine for heroin overdose that produces immediate withdrawal symptoms.
Active rats showed withdrawal symptoms like those seen in narcotics addicts, such as trembling, writhing, teeth chattering, and drooping eyelids. Inactive rats responded very little to the drug.
"Exercise, like drugs of abuse, leads to the release of neurotransmitters such as endorphins and dopamine, which are involved with a sense of reward," noted Kanarek.
