Over-Exercise: How Much Is Too Much for Teens?

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Most people are aware that regular exercise is important for both mental and physical health. Exercise releases hormones that make you feel good at the time and improve your general mood. Physical activity can help to relieve stress and anxiety and calm the nervous system.

However, exercising a lot isn’t always healthy or a sign of good mental well-being. Over-exercise can harm the body and cause low mood, mood swings, anxiety, and fatigue. It can be an unhelpful coping mechanism that makes problems worse while avoiding confronting the real causes of emotional distress.

Over-exercise is also a common symptom of eating disorders, particuarly bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa.

When a young person exercises a lot, it’s important to look for the signs of overexercise. Overexercise is harmful in itself and can be a symptom of underlying mental health problems. Recognising overexercise early opens the door to mental health support and treatment for young people, paving the way to recovery and well-being.

This blog explores the causes and consequences of over-exercise and the signs that a young person is exercising too much.

What Is Over-Exercise?

When a young person over-exercise, they do more exercise than their body can cope with. This might involve exercising too much, not recovering after exercise, or not eating enough food for the amount of exercise they do.

The amount of exercise that is healthy is different for every person. Some people may be okay doing a certain type and duration of exercise, while for other people it would be too much.

Over-exercise isn’t a medical diagnosis by itself, but it is a symptom of some mental health conditions. It’s often a sign that someone is experiencing difficult thoughts or emotions that they try to cope with through exercise.

Anyone can over-exercise, regardless of their gender, body shape, age, or weight.

What Are Exercise Addiction and Compulsive Exercise?

Young people who over-exercise sometimes experience exercise addiction or compulsive exercise. Exercise addiction is a type of over-exercise when someone feels that they don’t have control over the amount of exercise they do. 

Compulsive exercise is when someone continues exercising because they feel guilty when they don’t exercise or they want to avoid the perceived negative consequences of stopping.

Why Do Young People Over Exercise?

Young people may over-exercise for different reasons. Sometimes there is one main factor that causes over-exercise, while other times multiple factors play a role.

Some reasons for over-exercise include:

Relying Too Much On Exercise

Many people use exercise as a coping mechanism for difficult or negative emotions. Young people may exercise to calm down when they’re stressed or boost their mood when they’re feeling down. Regular exercise can also help people maintain a stable, good mood over time.

Using exercise as a coping mechanism isn’t bad in itself; in fact, exercising is usually a healthy and positive way to manage emotions. But sometimes young people become too dependent on exercise and start to use it as their only coping mechanism.

If a young person doesn’t have any other ways to manage difficult emotions, they may turn to exercise even when it’s too much for their body to handle. This might involve exercising when their body is tired or when they need to rest.

When a teenager is over-dependent on exercise, it can help to develop alternative, healthy coping mechanisms. This might include spending time with friends, doing creative activities, or using relaxation techniques. Having alternative coping mechanisms can help young people exercise more safely.

Pressure and Competitive Sport

Sometimes young people exercise a lot because they’re involved in competitive sports. They may feel pressure from coaches, teammates, or themselves to perform and push themselves, even beyond their limits. 

When young people feel pressured to train more and more, it can sometimes feel like an exercise addiction. They may continue to over-exercise despite signs that it’s harming both their health and their performance.

Misinformation About Exercise

Young people are exposed to a lot of information about exercise, especially online and on social media. They may try to follow specific routines that are shared and recommended by others. 

However, everyone’s needs and limits are different. Some routines shared may be suitable for some people but be too much for others. Other advice may be inaccurate and promote exercise routines that are unhealthy for anyone.

Mental Health Disorders

Over-exercise can be a symptom of some mental health disorders. For example, exercising too much can be a form of self-harm or a compulsive behaviour for someone with OCD.

Over-exercise can also be a symptom of an eating disorder or body dysmorphic disorder.

Body Image and Weight Stigma

Young people are constantly exposed to certain beauty ideals and social norms about body shape and weight. These ideals can make them feel like their own body isn’t good enough and want to change their body shape and weight. They may want to be thinner or more muscular. In reality, beauty ideals are unhealthy and unrealistic for most people.

Young people may also experience stigma about their body weight from family, friends, the media, and even strangers. Sometimes, people share false information that being thin is the only way to be ‘healthy’ or that the purpose of exercising is to lose weight.

In reality, every person is different. Each young person has their own shape, weight, size, and features. There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to be and every body should be accepted, and young people can be healthy at any size.

However, social pressures and norms can be hard to ignore. Body dissatisfaction and weight stigma can cause serious emotional distress, low self-esteem, and other forms of harm. Young people may respond by trying to change their body shape and weight by exercising. This can cause over-exercise.

Over-Exercise and Eating Disorders

Over-exercise – and specifically compulsive exercise – is common among young people with eating disorders. Compulsive exercise can contribute to both the development and maintenance of eating disorders. For example, young people may compulsively exercise as a way to restrict their energy intake or to ‘purge’ during binge and purge cycles. 

Young people with eating disorders who compulsively exercise tend to have more serious eating disorder symptoms. They also show more traits associated with eating disorders, like perfectionism and hyperactivity. Moreover, over-exercise as a way to control body shape or weight is linked to increased suicidality among people with and without an eating disorder diagnosis.

A recent study found that in a group of adolescents with eating disorders, 44% of girls and 38% of boys compulsively exercised. Those who compulsively exercised scored significantly higher on a scale of eating disorder severity.

What Are the Signs That a Young Person is Over-Exercising?

Sometimes it can be hard to tell how much exercise is ‘too much’. There isn’t a certain amount of exercise that is classified as over-exercise: instead, it depends on each person’s own body and mind.

However, there are some behavioural, emotional, social, and physical signs that a young person may be over-exercising. These include:

  • exercising in secret or hiding their exercise
  • continuing to feel low however much exercise they do
  • feeling like exercise is taking over their life and preventing them from pursuing their hobbies or seeing friends
  • feeling or acting anxious or upset if they aren’t able to exercise as they would like
  • exercising even when they are ill or unwell
  • not taking time to rest and recover, including rest days

Sometimes, young people don’t eat enough food to fuel and recover from the exercise they do. This might mean they:

  • get frequent injuries while exercising
  • experience constipation, bloating, or cramps in their stomach
  • have problems with concentration and coordination
  • lose strength
  • have iron deficiency
  • have sleeping problems
  • stop having periods or have irregular periods

If you think a teenager may be over-exercising, it’s important to act. Over-exercising can be a sign of – and lead to – serious mental health disorders like eating disorders.

Having an open conversation with a young person is usually a good first step. You should listen carefully, validate their emotions, and make sure you’re not judgemental. Let them know you’re not there to criticise them but to support them. 

Be aware that a young person may find it very hard to speak about eating problems, especially to parents. If they’re reluctant to talk, you may want to see if there’s another person (like a teacher) they would prefer to speak to.

If a teenager also has a mental health disorder like an eating disorder, OCD, or depression, it’s important that they receive professional support. You could speak with them about different treatment options and encourage them to see a doctor or mental health professional. You can also contact a health professional yourself for advice and support.

The Wave Clinic: Specialist Recovery Programs for Young People

The Wave Clinic is a mental health treatment space in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We offer a diverse selection of modalities for children, teenagers, and young adults with mental health concerns. We’re specialists in complex trauma, eating disorders, and borderline personality disorder, applying our exceptional expertise to every young person’s journey.

Our programs are about making a difference in the lives of young people. We offer more than top-tier clinical care. We provide young people with education, opportunities, and experiences where they develop their identities, skills, and plans for the future.

Every member of our team, including chefs and support staff, is trained to support young people with eating disorders. We offer 24-hour medical support and intensive care facilities for young people with the highest needs, alongside collective living structures for other teenagers and young adults.

We understand how to balance movement and exercise at different stages of eating disorder recovery, recognising the nuances of exercise for young people with eating problems.

If you’re interested in finding out more about our programs, get in touch today. We’re here to help.

Fiona - The Wave Clinic

Fiona Yassin is the founder and clinical director at The Wave Clinic. She is a U.K. and International registered Psychotherapist and Accredited Clinical Supervisor (U.K. and UNCG).

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