But....I had bought books and subscribed to a triathlon magazine....but that's not a 'first' for me, I buy a lot of books and thumb through a lot of magazines, but it doesn't mean to say I'm addicted to something.
And so I thought nothing more of it really for a long while until one day a newsletter popped into my inbox from Tri247 and one article in particular caught my eye.....
'Is Technology fueling exercise addiction' ? Wow, there is now some science or research behind this...not just the odd joke from my wife - I had to read more. It seems to be a fairly new area of research. I think plenty has been done before in the field of exercise addiction, but with the advent of new technologies and 'wearables' (I really detest that word), the research is taking a new shape.
This article was published by 'Performance in Mind' and you can still read it via Tri247 here.
I started to read with interest, just a skim at first as I couldn't imagine it related to me. But then I started to read some sections and then I'd read them again and think, hang on, that sounds exactly like me. Could I really be addicted?
The abstract of the article talks about the rise of fitness 'tracker' technology and social media as a way of increasing adherence to physical activity and while research suggests this might be proving successful, a side effect might be that these same technologies, when used by people already highly motivated to exercise, might be leading to an increased risk of exercise addiction.
Interestingly for me given my new found interest in Triathlon, was the suggestion that individuals that may be more prone to developing an exercise addiction might be drawn or gravitate towards, endurance sport - especially Triathlon ! Apparently where Triathlon is concerned, the longer the distance raced the higher the risk of addiction and as the number of weekly training hours goes up, likewise that risk does to.
Even so, I still didn't consider myself to be addicted to training, or to triathlon in particular. But maybe further reading would convince me otherwise?
But before I went any further, I reached for my trusty dictionary to check the definition of a couple of words....'addiction' and 'obsession'. Here's how they are defined.
Addiction: (Noun) The fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance or activity.
Obsession: (Noun) The state of being obsessed with someone or something
Looking at these definitions, I still wasn't convinced it applied to me, but I wanted to read on anyhow in case something in the research made me think differently.
So previously, according to the article, the 'markers' or risk factors that could be identified with exercise addiction were things like, competing in ultra-endurance sports, age, BMI, having an eating disorder and a personality high in Narcissism. Again, I'm pretty sure none of those relate to me, or define me.
But this is where it got interesting, as the research then asked - would it be interesting to see using connected health technologies could be added to that list. I think it would, as this is one area where, more than others, that my use of a Garmin and Strava, on some days, has enticed me to train when ordinarily I might not have (e.g. feeling tired).
The paper them went into the details of how the research was conducted, how volunteers were recruited, how their use of technology was measured and so on. In one specific study it was suggested that from the group studied, Triathlon showed the highest likelihood of creating a risk to exercise addiction (above cycling and running).
A second study raised an interesting point in that potentially there is less a risk of addiction to exercise but more to a sport and to competing/racing in that sport, e.g. some participants were saying that they don't train because they enjoy training but because they want to perform in a race.
Some of the other bits of the research I highlighted started to resonate with me a bit more and made me think that there was the potential that I was addicted (to exercise or a sport).
- Some athletes suggest they enjoy the support and friendships they get from linking up with groups of like-mined people via say Strava or Facebook. Some of these friends they have yet to met in real life.
I can relate to that, I have friends on Strava I've not actually met and I do enjoy getting feedback and/or encouragement from Strava followers.
- Online 'relationships' sometimes replace real world enagement
Not sure they applied to me but I can see how that might happen.
- The possible negative to this support is when you get injured - so I guess here, you can still see what everyone else is doing and that can create despondency and jealousy.
I agree with that also, as when I had a foot injury, seeing everyone post runs was quite frustrating at times !
- Using technology adds pressure. Some can be helpful, e.g. honesty of data, ability to compare to previous data, or other peoples data - potentially helping people to become more objective. Using the fact you know people are 'watching' to help with motivation. But then there is a possible negative side to this....with the suggestion that athletes can start to think about how a session will look before they've uploaded it - whether others will be impressed etc.
- Similarly, athletes agreed that at times they had maybe trained when they should have been resting or pushed themselves harder than they ought to
I can relate to aspects of that, especially to training when otherwise I might not have done, because I wanted to post something as my fellow athletes had, or I wanted to maintain my consistent approach of training every day.
As the paper drew to its conclusion, it was acknowledged that whilst the strength of any link between technology and addiction is 'fairly small' it seems that athletes who might already be at a higher risk of addiction could create additional (negative) pressures from using technologies that can increase say the pressure to train when rest would be better etc.
So where do I stand? I thought the article and research was fascinating. For a while before I read it, I wondered if I was addicted to Triathlon - my wife tells me often she thinks I am !
I hadn't thought about being addicted to exercise (rather than a specific sport), as I have gone through periods where I've either done nothing, or a vastly reduced amount compared to what I do now.
Quite a few points resonated with me, the comments from surveyed athletes about getting upset if you couldn't train, or being frustrated if injured and watching what everyone else loads up to Strava while you do nothing. I'd say I'm more aware now of not training or having a 'rest' day and not posting anything on Strava, so I'd say that from not using Strava previously to using it regularly now, has changed how I sometimes view training sessions.
But on the flipside, I've also found it motivating, looking at others performances and races is motivating. Getting access to set pro athletes posting sessions is also a great motivator.
So overall, I don't feel Strava or other technologies have made me more addicted to Triathlon or exercise, or increased my risk of addiction.....anymore than say I am addicted to cleaning cars (but that's a separate blog idea !) which doesn't feature any strava like technologies (that I'm aware of).
That said, I do love Triathlon as a sport in a way that I never did just pure running and I'm convinced that is down to the nature of Triathlon rather than my use of technology.
If you get chance, read the article/research. It is interesting and probably still in its infancy so I'm sure will develop and expand over time.
In the meantime, I'll still tell myself I'm not addicted and my wife will keep telling me I am !
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