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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
(Score: 4, Insightful) by corey on Wednesday April 05, @09:45PM (1 child)
I kinda agree with your sentiment. This reminds me of back in the 90s when it was all in the news that eggs were bad for you: they increased cholesterol and a bit later they were found to cause cancer. My parents, who ate eggs for breakfast, whinged about it all. Then a few years later the nutrition guidance was that what we’re back to being great for you, etc. In my life, everything seems to move around in circles, one minute it is bad for you and next minute it’s good for you. Chocolate and coffee, and wine, are examples. I know what I should eat and shouldn’t and I’m relaxed about it all. Worrying about it is bad for you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 05, @09:53PM
> Then a few years later
I've been in and out of style for several cycles now. In college I had a beard and pony tail--low maintenance, lop some off when it gets to be annoying. Still do (but less hair on top now). Each style-cycle I paid less and less attention to what the style consultants had to say (usually my SO or female relative).