What Are Eating Disorders?
There is this common misconception that eating disorders are a lifestyle choice when in fact they can be fatal diseases which may lead to severe disturbances in eating behaviors and normal thoughts and emotions. Eating disorders now affect more than 5 % of the population, mostly, teens and young adults.
What Causes Them?
There can be a variety of factors, but the most common ones would be;
- genetics- There was an experiment with twins that were separated at birth; it was found that one of them was anorexic and about 7 years later, their sibling was also diagnosed with anorexia. This is just one of the many research that proved that, eating disorders can in fact be genetic.
- Personality traits- It was found that people with neuroticism, perfectionism and impulsivity are at higher risks of eating disorders.
- Cultural preferences to thinness- To fit in, many would go on diets because that would be the ‘norm’ in their own country/ society.
Facts about eating disorders
- people of all ages, race, background, body weight and gender may be prone to eating disorders; they don’t target a specific ‘type’ of people.
- They affect a lot of teens and young adults, but eating disorders are not limited to only those life stages, a 70 year old man can be suffering from bulimia.
- Eating disorders can in fact be life threatening and as of right now have the highers mortality rate of any mental illness.
Types of eating disorders
There are more than 5 types of eating disorders; but these are just 3 of the most common ones and the ones, that affect the highest number of the population;
- ANOREXIA NERVOSA
Anorexia can be identified by unusually low weight and an intense desire not to gain weight or eat too much, if at all.
An anorexic person tries to avoid gain any weight at all, often to the point of malnourishment. With anorexia, a person may also see themselves as overweight, even if their body weight is far below normal.
Anorexia is most common among young women. Up to 1 person of women in the United States have anorexia, according to the National Eating Disorders Association. It’s much less common among men, who only make up 5–10 percent of people with anorexia.
- BINGE EATING DISORDER
BINGE EATING DISORDER occurs when you eat too much on a regular basis. You may also feel guilty about bingeing or feel like your bingeing is out of control.With BED, you may continue eating long after you feel full, sometimes to the point of discomfort or nausea. BED can happen to people of all sizes and weights.
- BULIMIA NERVOSA
Bulimia occurs when you experience binge eating followed by purging. With bulimia, you may feel guilty or helpless after eating large amounts of food and try to vomit the food back up. You may use laxatives to quickly get the food through your digestive system. You may also exercise excessively to prevent the food from causing weight gain.With bulimia, you may believe that you’re overweight even if your weight is normal, slightly above normal, or even below a healthy weight.
CONCLUSION
Eating disorders are becoming more and more common nowadays; it’s now time to start giving people the help and love they deserve.
