Can exercise be addictive?
I exercise regularly and am often told that I exercise far too much. So is there such a thing as being addicted to exercise? If there is, can it really be harmful?

Exercise addiction has been written about by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. This organisation is responsible for identifying any type of addictive behaviour.

They suggest that this type of addiction is more of a behavioural nature and is similar to an obsessive compulsive behaviour. Other types of behavioural addiction are things such as gambling, food and sex. The organisation goes on to suggest that the body releases an endorphin high which leads to feeling of euphoria, which in turn can lead to the body craving this feeling.

So is this harmful? Well, just in the same way of doing anything to excess, yes it can be. However in my personal opinion, I would much rather have an exercise addiction than anything else!

Is waist size important?

One of the most important things for the majority of members of any gym is to get their waist size down. Usually this is for body image reasons of wanting to drop a couple of dress sizes for the holiday, or men wanting to drop a couple inches to fit into a suit for a special occasion. But are there any health reasons we should be concerned with?

A recent study completed by the Medical Research Centre (MRC) found that people with a large waist circumference had a greater risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes. The MRC suggested that men with a waist size larger than 40 inches/102 cm and women with a waist size of 34.5inches/88 cm had an increased chance of developing type 2 diabetes. The study looked at 340,000 participants over 8 different European countries and is to date the largest study carried out of its kind. The study showed that from the 340,000 participants 7 per cent of men and 4.4 per cent of women who were over the waist size stated went on to develop diabetes within 10 years.

So if you have noticed that you waist size has increased due to an over indulgent holiday or other celebrations. Just bare in mind that you should worry equally about health reasons as well as wanting to fit into you favourite dress or shirt!

It sounds obvious that you should drink water with your meals at home, doesn’t it? However government obesity advisor’s are calling for families to encourage drinking water at meal time to tackle the growing obesity crisis. They are suggesting that the amount of sugared drinks which are consumed by the populations is more than it has ever been. This, in turn, is not helping the obesity issues that we see in the general population currently. So would this work to help fight the ‘obesity crisis’.

Speaking on Radio 5 Live, Dr Julian Copper who is the Head of Food Science for AB Sugar Ltd, suggested that reducing sugar in a whole range of foods would not solve the obesity problem. He suggested that the general public still need to watch their calorie intake compared to the amount of activity they are doing. Professor Greggor of the Action on Sugar organisations suggested that the government are still not doing enough to solve this growing crisis. He called for the government to stop the advertising of all fast food and sugary soft drinks, especially within sporting competition. He also suggested that just like smoking, putting a higher tax on this type of food and beverage would encourage a change in the behaviour of the population. (Radio 5 Live 2014)
So should you try to drink more water? Well yes is the answer! There are many different benefits from drinking water, but perhaps the most important is that it has zero calories!!