Excessive Exercise

People with anorexia, particularly those with the restrictive form, sometimes overexert themselves in an effort to reduce weight. According to one study involving 165 individuals, 45% of those with eating problems also engaged in excessive exercise. It was discovered that within this group, individuals with restrictive (80%) and binge eating/purging (43%) kinds of anorexia were most likely to engage in excessive exercise. The excessive activity appears to be more prevalent in female adolescents with eating problems than in male adolescents. When an exercise is skipped, some anorexics also feel a great deal of severe shame.

Other sorts of physical activity that are typically observed in anorexia include walking, standing, and fidgeting more frequently. High degrees of anxiety, sadness, and obsessional personalities and behaviors frequently coexist with excessive exercise. Finally, it appears that the low levels of leptin reported in anorexics may promote restlessness and hyperactivity.