Excessive exercise and anorexia nervosa

Excessive exercising (EXE) has long been known to be one of the features commonly found amongst those suffering from an eating disorder. In recent years, however, more specific proposals have been made suggesting that some individuals engaging in high levels of sporting activity (in particular, long distance running) might have a disorder analogous to anorexia nervosa (AN). This suggestion, which has aroused a great deal of controversy is ambiguous and can be understood in a number of different ways. In this paper we propose four different models that might be implied in such an hypothesis. The implications of these models for research and clinical practice are discussed.