Fitness apps can be bad for your #mentalhealth #fitnessaddict

runningSLAVE TO THE STEPS: Achieving that magic 10,000 a day can take over your life (Image: Getty Images)

ANYONE dropping in from another planet would be appalled by the stresses we on Earth put ourselves under. And we often do so voluntarily, as if determined to inflict some form of overdue self-punishment. We all know for example that occasionally we need to let things go - and yet we allow something as basic as our mobile phone to hold us in a tyrannical grip, as we check every few minutes to see if someone has sent a text, WhatsApp message or email. 

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They haven't? Panic! They have? Panic - because we need to respond. Now!

Moderation, it seems, is beyond us. This is increasingly evident when it comes to health and fitness, specifically the control that apps and Fitbits have over us - a control that often leads to obsessive behaviour on the one hand, guilt and falling self-esteem on the other.

There are thought to be more than 165,000 health-related apps on the market worldwide, helping (or not helping) with everything from brushing our teeth or applying make-up more effectively to achieving better orgasms.

But none are more popular than those which monitor the amount of exercise we are taking. In fact, more and more people wouldn't dream of leaving home without their fitness trackers, checking constantly to discover how close they are to their goal.

huntHealth Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is caught jogging in London (Image: TAL COHEN/AFP/GettyImages)

Which might sound harmless enough. But that's not the view of some sports psychologists who now believe that fitness apps can be bad for your health.

Indeed, a growing number of people are overindulging in exercise at levels just shy of addiction, driven in part by the reliance on fitness-tracking devices on their watches and smartphones.

When I up running was both I joined Club and entered I was myself to time. That the borough and back of 12 miles if I did not it felt wrong.

Professor Martin Turner and Dr Andrew Wood, who are both attached to Staffordshire University, don't deny that running can be beneficial both physically and mentally but they warn about the dangers of becoming "exercise dependent".

On one Angeles After I had an Rather "You start running because you want to get fit and be a healthy weight," they write on The Conversation website. "After a month you notice that your clothes fit better. Then colleagues and friends comment on how healthy you look... but it's not enough.

girl runningSports psychologists who now believe that fitness apps can be bad for your health (Image: Getty Images)

"Five kilometres no longer gives you the same rush so you move to 10. This added time means you no longer have time for a lunch break where you normally chat with colleagues. But who cares? People are saying you look great.'' And so it goes on until "your self-worth is becoming attached to running", claim the two psychologists.

"Running is now part of who you are. If you don't run who are you? People value you and you value yourself because of your running. Now you have to carry on running in order to maintain your self-worth."

This strikes a chord with me. As I describe elsewhere on this page, I became addicted to running when I was in my 40s nearly 20 years ago - and that was without the added pressure of a fitness app or Fitbit.

More recently, a friend came to stay for a month while in the throes of buying a house. He was obsessed with reaching his daily target of steps. I assumed he, like many others, needed to do 10,000 - the magic number that seems to have spawned a whole industry.

watchPeople can become obsessed to reach their daily

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