Sport is healthy, that is undisputed. Regular exercise strengthens the immune system and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. During training, stress hormones are broken down and euphoric messenger substances are produced. The result: the mood improves, you feel good.
For some, however, movement becomes an inner compulsion. We speak of “sports addiction” when the sporting activity becomes a kind of drug for those affected. It is not easy to differentiate between ambitious hobby sport and an addiction: Experts assume, however, that every fourth hobby runner shows signs of addiction. There is still no recognized disease diagnosis for this; Therapy costs are usually only covered by health insurance if there is another diagnosis, such as an eating disorder, at the same time.
To find out more about the connection between well-being and sport addiction, a research team led by Frode Stenseng from the Technical University of Science in Norway started a study with 227 recreational runners. The scientists took into account a construct that has received little attention up to now: so-called escapism.
Escapism is an everyday phenomenon and describes the escape from – unpleasant – aspects of everyday life. The term was derived from the English verb “to escape” (to flee, escape). Many activities can be interpreted as escapism: be it the consumption of social media, a series marathon or unhealthy behavior such as drug use. Sport is also a popular way to relieve tension and distract yourself.
The Norwegian psychologists report in the journal “Frontiers in Psychology” that in their study they distinguish between two forms of escapism. Negative “self-suppression” is when people flee from uncomfortable feelings and problems. In a positive “self-expansion”, on the other hand, people gain positive new experiences through an activity.
Little is known about the role escapism plays in athletes. The researchers wanted to change that and recruited 227 people who like to run in their free time via social media. About half of the group consisted of men and women, who were on average 43 years old. On average, the participants jogged five hours a week, nine of them even more than ten.
For comparison: the World Health Organization recommends adults 2.5 hours of sport per week.
Using online questionnaires, the researchers first determined the preference for self-expansion or self-suppression and the motives for the physical activity. The participants rated statements such as “I run to learn new things about myself” or “I run to suppress my problems”.
To determine whether a sport addiction was present, runners were asked to rate criteria such as withdrawal symptoms or loss of control. For example, with statements like: “I am not able to reduce the duration of my training”.
Well-being, in turn, was determined using five questions on current life satisfaction. For example, the researchers asked whether the participants’ lives corresponded to their ideals.
From the responses, the researchers found that participants’ well-being was indeed related to escapism motives. However, study participants who went jogging for positive experiences were happier than those who did it to suppress worries. But her escape from reality was also accompanied by signs of exercise addiction, especially when it came to the negative form of escapism.
According to Stenseng, the form of escapism depends on what people are looking for: do they want to promote a positive state – or avoid a negative one?
“The psychological reward of escapism is reduced rumination and relief from negative thoughts and feelings,” explains Stenseng, psychology professor and lead author of the study. Thus, self-expansion was associated with increased well-being whether or not a person showed signs of exercise addiction.
Addiction to exercise is often associated with lower life satisfaction. This was also confirmed by the results of Stenseng and his colleagues. People feeling unwell or unhappy can be a trigger for, or result from, excessive exercise. However, the findings suggest that if amateur athletes are positively motivated, a slight addiction does not dampen their mood.
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