Bigorexia: why can sports addiction be dangerous for health?

Alexandre Dalifard 21:00 pm, March 29, 2023

Being addicted to sport is possible. Often, addictions are associated with substances harmful to health such as tobacco, alcohol or drugs. And yet, it is possible to become addicted to healthy practices, such as sports with bigorexia. But concretely, how does this manifest itself? Invited in Bienfait pour vous, psychiatrist Jean-Victor Blanc addresses this subject, sometimes unknown to the general public, by responding to the testimony of a listener, herself addicted to sport.

The body and the social circle weakened

"The seesaw is when a behavior will take up too much space and there will always be this loss of control vis-à-vis the behavior," explains the specialist. Bigorexia, this need to regularly practice a sporting activity, is a situation that Servane Heudiard knows well. This listener, passionate about sport, quickly fell into addiction and wanted to share her experience on Europe 1. "We do a little bit at first because we like it, then a little bit more, really like a drug, until we realize that we need it every day. Once you do it daily, you have to increase the dose, "says the sportswoman at the microphone of Julia Vignali and Mélanie Gomez.

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But this excessive practice has not been without consequences for his body. "I've had three serious accidents. I had a fracture of the pelvis, a double fracture of the elbow and a fracture of the leg, "details this cyclist and rower. If this addiction strongly impacts his body, it also degrades his social relationships. In her book Le Sport, ma prison sans barreau..., Servane Heudiard explains that she escaped from her sister's marriage to go rowing. This addiction has therefore degraded his social circle. "Let's say that social life comes down to the sports circle. I have a lot of friends, but they are all cyclists or rowers," laments the listener.

But why such intensity? "It's exactly like anorexia. Except that the ideal will not be 'I want to be as thin as possible', but rather 'as muscular as possible'. However, the more muscular the person, the more he will perceive himself as 'non-muscular'. This is where it gets very complicated. The person will put his health in danger and take hormones to reach a muscular stature that is in fact impossible, "warns Jean-Victor Blanc after the testimony of Servane Heudiard.

"Finding the right limit"

To understand the intensity of his sport, Servane Heudiard details his training. If she limits herself to two hours of rowing on weekends, she admits to being "climbed to six hours of sport every day, 365 out of 365". "I am freelance, working from home, it allows me to arrange my schedules. Instead of spending two hours on public transport, I spend two hours on my bike," says the sportswoman.

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Faced with her addiction and the dangers she represents for her body, Servane Heudiard wishes to alert sports practitioners to the risks involved. "You have to find the right limit. Sport is really good for your health, but you shouldn't switch over. We are in a dangerous ambivalence. Sport has a very good image. When you see someone playing sports, you will always congratulate them. We're never going to tell him it's not good," she warns.

A fact confirmed by Jean-Victor Blanc. "The entourage can finally reinforce the behavior at some point by not necessarily seeing that it can represent a risk. We know that, in general, addicts to sport or bodybuilding will take longer to consult, "says the psychiatrist. The entourage can therefore ultimately feed a malaise and addiction.