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hubie writes:

Using running to escape from negative experiences rather than using it to escape to positive ones may lead to exercise dependence:

Recreational running offers a lot of physical and mental health benefits – but some people can develop exercise dependence, a form of addiction to physical activity which can cause health issues. Shockingly, signs of exercise dependence are common even in recreational runners. A study published in Frontiers in Psychology investigated whether the concept of escapism can help us understand the relationship between running, wellbeing, and exercise dependence.

[...] "Escapism is often defined as 'an activity, a form of entertainment, etc. that helps you avoid or forget unpleasant or boring things'. In other words, many of our everyday activities may be interpreted as escapism," said Stenseng. "The psychological reward from escapism is reduced self-awareness, less rumination, and a relief from one's most pressing, or stressing, thoughts and emotions."

Escapism can restore perspective, or it can act as a distraction from problems that need to be tackled. Escapism which is adaptive, seeking out positive experiences, is referred to as self-expansion. Meanwhile maladaptive escapism, avoiding negative experiences, is called self-suppression. Effectively, running as exploration or as evasion.

[...] The scientists found that there was very little overlap between runners who favored self-expansion and runners who preferred self-suppression modes of escapism. Self-expansion was positively related with wellbeing, while self-suppression was negatively related to wellbeing. Self-suppression and self-expansion were both linked to exercise dependence, but self-suppression was much more strongly linked to it. Neither escapism mode was linked to age, gender, or amount of time a person spent running, but both affected the relationship between wellbeing and exercise dependence. Whether or not a person fulfilled criteria for exercise dependence, a preference for self-expansion would still be linked to a more positive sense of their own wellbeing.

[...] "More studies using longitudinal research designs are necessary to unravel more of the motivational dynamics and outcomes in escapism," said Stenseng. "But these findings may enlighten people in understanding their own motivation, and be used for therapeutical reasons for individuals striving with a maladaptive engagement in their activity."

Journal Reference:
Frode Stenseng, Ingvild Bredvei Steinsholt, Beate Wold Hygen, Running to get "lost"? Two types of escapism in recreational running and their relations to exercise dependence and subjective well-being, Front. Psychol., 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1035196

Original Submission