Are you Addicted to Running?

"I don't stop when I'm tired. I stop when I'm done."

— David Goggins

You've probably heard a quote about running that sounds something like the one above. There are a lot of voices out there that say more is always better; that running and exercise are so good for you they can't possibly have any downside. But like anything done without a touch of moderation, running can become something that starts to be a net negative in our lives.

Consider this: in one study of nearly 800 new runners, almost a third had stopped running within six months with injury as the number one reason [1]. For many of them, running became a net negative: no longer something that contributes positively to their lives, at least not in the fashion they've been practicing it. If running can, for some people, become a negative practice, I'd argue that exercise dependency is one of the things that can hasten that spiral the most.

"Exercise addiction" isn't an official diagnosis [2], and running a lot doesn't mean you have it. Addiction to running involves needing it - not just wanting it - to the point that it interferes with other aspects of a healthy life, and removing it even temporarily can leave us anxious, irritable or low. Depending on the study, roughly 7 to 14% of runners and endurance athletes screen as "at risk" for it [3, 4, 5] (though researchers caution that true addiction is probably much rarer than those numbers suggest) [2].

There's also a milder version of this, and as a PT working mostly with injured endurance athletes, I believe it is far more common. In one study of amateur runners, more than half showed some symptoms of exercise dependence without crossing the "at risk" line [4]. Examples might be needing a little more to get the same effect, or feeling off when you miss a run. While it may not align with full blown addiction, it can still result in negative consequences - pushing too hard, craving more, and eventually getting injured. And if injuries occur, that dependency may make recovery harder.

For people who are overly dependent on exercise, the process of injury recovery may become a life-altering process rather than a blip. The research points the same direction: runners with a more obsessive relationship to running are more likely to report injuries [6], and in one study of injured exercisers, about one in four of those at high risk for exercise addiction also screened positive for depression - well above the rate in other injured exercisers [7].

A lot of what makes running an "addiction" or dependency centers around how it makes us feel. Do we have a positive relationship with running, or is it something darker?

When we have a positive relationship with running, we run because it makes us feel good. When we have a dependency on running, we run because if we don't, we can't feel good.

A positive relationship with running is marked by the feeling of seeing slow improvement when we've put in hard work. Dependency on running means we feel like a failure if those times don't budge.

If working in a 15 minute run on a busy day feels like a great accomplishment, you may have a positive relationship with running. If any run under 45 minutes feels like a waste of time, you might want to screen your relationship with running.

You get the picture. Running is supposed to support life - not become the scaffolding that holds it up entirely. While true running addiction is relatively rare, I see over-dependence on running all the time in the clinic. When you can't run (or do whatever else is your choice form of exercise), what else gives you value?

Sources

1. Fokkema T, Hartgens F, Kluitenberg B, et al. Reasons and predictors of discontinuation of running after a running program for novice runners. J Sci Med Sport. 2019;22(1):106-111. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2018.06.003

2. Chhabra B, Demetrovics Z, Griffiths MD, Szabo A. Exercise addiction: a review and evaluation of current research and theory. J Behav Addict. 2026;15(2):540-566. doi:10.1556/2006.2025.00336

3. Lassner A, Papazova I, Pross B, et al. Exercise addiction measured at a naturalistic marathon-event - associations of the EAI with the general level of functioning, affect and performance parameters. Int J Sport Exerc Psychol. 2022;21(6):1041-1053. Repository record

4. Lukács A, Sasvári P, Varga B, Mayer K. Exercise addiction and its related factors in amateur runners. J Behav Addict. 2019;8(2):343-349. doi:10.1556/2006.8.2019.28

5. Di Lodovico L, Poulnais S, Gorwood P. Which sports are more at risk of physical exercise addiction: a systematic review. Addict Behav. 2019;93:257-262.

6. de Jonge J, Balk YA, Taris TW. Mental recovery and running-related injuries in recreational runners: the moderating role of passion for running. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(3):1044. doi:10.3390/ijerph17031044

7. Lichtenstein MB, Nielsen RO, Gudex C, Hinze CJ, Jørgensen U. Exercise addiction is associated with emotional distress in injured and non-injured regular exercisers. Addict Behav Rep. 2018;8:33-39. doi:10.1016/j.abrep.2018.06.001