Exercise Addiction Stability and Health Effects. A 6-Month Follow-up Postcompetition Study in Amateur Endurance Cyclists

Abstract

Objective: To study the longitudinal stability of exercise addiction and its health effects in apparently healthy amateur endurance cyclists from pre- to 6-month post-competition. Methods: In total, 330 (30 women) adult cyclists were divided into 4 groups based on scores on the Exercise Addiction Inventory at both periods: nonrisk (n=262, 79.1%), transient (n=35, 10.6%), emerging (n=14, 4.2%) and persistent (n=20, 6.1%). Results: The prevalence of high-risk exercise addiction was reduced postcompetition (16.7% vs 10.3%, p=0.017). Of the cyclists with a high precompetition risk of exercise addiction, 63.6% (35/55) had a transient addiction associated with favorable effects on mental quality of life (effect size [ES]=0.52, 95% confidence interval: [0.20, 0.86]) and sleep quality (ES=0.50 [0.89, 0.12]) and avoided the worsening of depression symptom severity compared to the remaining groups (ES range=0.51–0.65). The 5.1% (14/275) of cyclists with a precompetition low risk of exercise addiction presented emerging exercise addiction that was associated with a worsened mental quality of life compared to the remaining groups (ES ranged 0.59–0.91), sleep quality compared to the nonrisk (ES=0.56 [0.02, 1.10]) and transient (ES=0.72 [1.36, 0.08]) groups and anxiety symptom severity compared to the persistent group (ES=0.51 [1.20, 0.19]). Conclusions: Exercise addiction had a marked transitory component at 6-month postcompetition with associated health benefits in amateur endurance cyclists.