Exercise Addiction and Its Relationship with Health Outcomes in Indoor Cycling Practitioners in Fitness Centers

Abstract

We studied the prevalence and possible association between exercise addiction and health in indoor cycling practitioners. In 1014 (492 women) adult indoor cyclists and 926 (597 women) controls with low levels of physical activity according to the short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, we examined the risk of exercise addiction according to the Exercise Addiction Inventory and several health outcomes through a web-based experiment. The prevalence of a high risk of exercise addiction in cyclists was 13.3%, and it was higher in men than in women (16.5% vs. 10.0%, p = 0.002). Women cyclists with a high risk of exercise addiction had higher levels of physical activity (p < 0.001; effect size = −0.62, 95% CI: (−0.91, −0.32)) and anxiety symptom severity (p = 0.001; Effect Size (ES) = −0.59 (−0.89, −0.30)) than those with a low risk. For both sexes, cyclists with a low risk of exercise addiction had better social function, emotional role, and anxiety symptom severity compared with the controls (all p < 0.002; ES ranged from 0.25 to 0.47). Higher anxiety symptom severity and cardiorespiratory fitness were the main determinants of exercise addiction in cyclists (both p < 0.001). Our data suggest the importance of considering exercise addiction in indoor cyclists.

This research was funded by Gobierno de Aragón (grant number S25-D17). JBA was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education (grant number FPU13/05130). JBA and MAOC were supported by the Departamento de Innovación, Investigación y Universidad del Gobierno de Aragón y el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional – Programa Operativo FEDER Aragón 2014-2020, Construyendo Europa desde Aragón (grant numbers PUI/2018-337 (JBA) and PUI/2018-336 (MAOC)). JRM was supported by Universidad de Lleida, Cátedra ASISA (grant number X18010). DMI was supported by the Biomedical Research Networking Center on Frailty and Healthy Aging (CIBERFES) and FEDER funds from the European Union (reference number CB16/10/00477). The funders had no role in study design; collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; writing the report; and the decision to submit the report for publication. There was no external financial support.