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The role of physical activity in the development and maintenance of eating disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

C. Davis ,
S. H. Kennedy ,
E. Ravelski  and
M. Dionne
C. Davis*
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, The Toronto Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
S. H. Kennedy
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, The Toronto Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
E. Ravelski
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, The Toronto Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M. Dionne
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, The Toronto Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr Caroline Davis, 343 Bethune College, York University, 4700 Keele Street, North York, Ontario, M3J 1P3, Canada
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Synopsis

This study was intended to establish the pathogenic significance of sport and exercise in the development of eating disorders. Hospitalized eating disordered patients and an age-matched control group were assessed. Historical and current physical activity data were collected. An in-depth interview was also conducted to ascertain the age of onset of the diagnostic symptoms for eating disorders, and to determine whether: (i) exercising predated dieting; (ii) patients had been involved in competitive athletics; (iii) exercise was excessive; and (iv) weight loss was inversely related to level of exercise. The results indicated that patients were more physically active than controls from adolescence onwards, and prior to the onset of the primary diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa. A content analysis of the interview data indicated that 78% of patients engaged in excessive exercise, 60% were competitive athletes prior to the onset of their disorder, 60% reported that sport or exercise pre-dated dieting, and 75% claimed that physical activity levels steadily increased during the period when food intake and weight loss decreased the most. Together our results suggest that overactivity should not be routinely viewed as a secondary symptom in anorexia nervosa, equivalent to other behaviours. For a number of anorexic women, sport/exercise is an integral part of the pathogenesis and progression of self-starvation.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , November 1994 , pp. 957 - 967
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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