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I sit here writing, with my heart the heaviest that it? s been in a very long time. A million emotions plummet through my body, yet I know nothing of the struggle of a eating disorder. And it seems the more I try to understand, the less I know and the less I understand. I played college volleyball for two years for Florida A&# 038; M University.
Those two years I lost and gain 45 pounds. I now sit and reminisce. I saw my teammates going thought rigorous diets and fads. I think about similar friends and teammates trying to be the best, but who are going through another trauma in itself. I want to break down in tears when I think, not so much of their circumstances, but that I can do nothing to help. Sometimes, I?
m bound by secrecy, never to reveal anything. Why to you think I am being secretive only models are supposed to have eating disorders not athletes. Why are eating disorders so common in female athletes? I know that the prevalence of disordered eating is high among athletes in swimming, gymnastics, dance and figure skating are at higher risk for development of eating disorders. But, why my friends? Why people I know and care about?
I sit and I wonder how to help. There are many athletes I know who have eating disorders. I wish there was a foolproof guide to helping so I could quickly refer to a specific page. I never experienced an eating disorder. I lost weight by eating right, and exercising.
I didn? t work hard during the off-season and pay the price during two-a-day workouts. Moreover, I wish people who knew about it would intervene. Why didn? t my former coach do something?
Why don? t her parents do something? Why doesn? t she have more support? As I find out the number of girls I know with eating disorders increases, the frequency and complexity of my questions increase as well. Sometimes I think.
I think about the girls with eating disorders that don? t make it. I wonder if one of the girls I know is going to kill herself because judges, coaches, boyfriends and society is rewarding her for doing it. But, when I think of the unfair reinforcement by these people I remember whose fault it really is. And I become sad again and wonder why so much value is placed on looks. Even despite performance, despite scoring a perfect 10, despite swimming excellence, despite dancing in a national performance group, despite skating with Nancy Kerrigan, if you don?
t have? the look, ? you lose. It disgusts me.
And the people that perpetuate this unfairness disgust me. But, I can do nothing. I just sit, just think. I just hold back tears for these girls who are victims. British Olympic Association, UK Athletics, and the Eating Disorders Association. They hope to raise awareness of the growing problem of eating disorders.
Coaches, family, friends and athletes are to be targeted with details of the early warning signs and risks of anorexia and bulimia nervosa. The campaign coincides with news that problems in both male and female athletes are running out of control. Research at the University of Leeds by Angie Huxley, the former English cross-country champion and marathon international, reveals? that one in ten of Britains female distance runners has some kind of eating disorders? . They are obsessively convinced that less fat equals more fitness. Eating disorders are becoming more prevalent in the adolescent population and especially among athletes.
Every coach and physician must be on the lookout for anorexia nervosa and bulimia. The mortality rate is particularly high at lO- 15 %, with death occurring primarily due to cardiovascular failure, endocrine disturbances or suicide, according to Priscilla Wright. Bulimia is a morbid fear of becoming obese, with uncontrolled bingeing followed by purging. This is accomplished by vomiting, laxative use, ipecac, or even excessive exercise.
Anorexia is the relentless pursuit of thinness characterized by the intake of very few calories accompanied by excessive exercise. The anorectic gets down to 80 pounds and then 75 pounds looks better to them; at 75 pounds, 70 looks better. If this athlete is truly an anorexic, she will continue to get thinner until she reaches a point when she cannot compete. The disorders overlap, with bulimia being the more common of the two. The frightening aspect of these disorders is the high mortality and morbidity rate.
Forty to 50 percent of bulimics make a major suicide attempt. Anorexics do not attempt suicide as often, but a high percentage have episodes of major depression. It can happen at the highest level. Overeating is a symptom of both bulimia and binge eating disorders.
Recent findings have shown that eating disorders are more common among athletes than other people. Parents have been giving their children Barbie dolls for decades, not realizing the subconscious impact it might have on their body images as they grow older, said Dr. Jerry Maurath, a psychologist at Counseling and Psychological Services at Hudson Health Center. Recent findings have shown athletes in certain sports are at an even higher risk than others to develop negative body images, according to a research report released by Nancy Ann Rudd, a body-image researcher at The Ohio State University. Athletes participating in sports emphasizing leanness are more likely to practice risky behaviors, such as eating disorders, in order to control weight and improve athletic performance. Janet Ames, M.
D. states obviously, the first step in treating this disease is recognizing the athlete with an eating disorder. This requires a team approach, as does the treatment. The team is made up of the coach, parent, physician and teammates. The more people who are aware of the seriousness of the problem, the greater chance the athlete has of setting help. One of the main characteristics of the disorder is self denial, resulting in the athlete refusing to believe she has a problem.
Given this fact, it becomes imperative that the individual who recognizes the problem follows it through. Do not be satisfied with the athletes assurance that she is under treatment; check with her parents. The current European cross-country champion, Sara Wedlund, is a self-confessed anorexic, while Lucy Hassell, the British international runner, became so thin that she was forced to use a wheelchair. In a article, Liz Mc Colgan revealed that in 1988, in the run-up to the Olympics, her weight fell to seven stone. She was out-kicked for gold in Seoul.
It is not just running. There are problems in the worlds of ballet, figure-skating, gymnastics, rowing and horse riding. In the United States, wrestlers often binge-eat before a match after starving themselves before the weigh-in. The deaths of three college wrestlers late in 1997 triggered panic and it was revealed that they often exercise in saunas or run or cycle in plastic or rubber clothing to sweat off weight. Other athletes have been known to use such high-risk techniques as jogging in hot showers while wrapped in plastic bags, swallowing diuretics, laxatives or amphetamines, and self-induced vomiting. All this will make alarming reading for thousands of parents who will see it as yet another reason why they should not encourage their children to take part in sports already tarnished by drug and financial scandals.
Unfortunately just as drugs and eating disorders distort the body, so too, poisoned attitudes to competition and rewards for winning have distorted the very body of sport itself. There is evidence, however, that male athletes are at least equally at risk as female athletes for certain types of eating pathology. Because of their unique role in patient care, primary physicians especially need to be aware of what to look for and what questions to ask in diagnosing this often insidious syndrome. They also need to work with other members of the healthcare team as they make a diagnosis that will lead to appropriate treatment of all underlying problems. A study of NCAA athletes found that binge eating occurred more often in male athletes than in female athletes. More than three times as many male athletes as female athletes used saunas or steam baths to lose weight.
The same percentage of males and females used steroids to improve athletic performance. Female athletes were four times more likely than males to use vomiting to lose weight. Athletes at risk for eating disorders are often those who are particularly anxious and critical of their own athletic performance and who express these concerns by dissatisfaction with their bodies. Eating disorders may result in symptoms which interfere with athletic performance. Examples of symptoms include, fatigue, weakness, lightheadedness, broken bones, leg cramps, and irregular heart rate are among the symptoms which may impair athletic capacity. These symptoms are the result of various physiological complications of eating disorders, including low thyroid hormones, poor heart and circulatory function, osteoporosis, and electrolyte imbalance.
Athletes are often aware of the symptoms of eating disorders, but do not want to acknowledge the symptoms for fear that they will be required to stop their sport. Except in extreme cases, the athlete can continue the sport while in treatment. Todays female gymnast weighs almost 20 lb less than her counterpart of 20 years ago. Examples such as this of a heightened focus on thinness have been cited as a factor in disordered eating among female athletes, especially those participating in sports that emphasize appearance or leanness, or those that involve weight classifications. The female athlete triad of disordered eating, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis affects many active women and girls, especially those in sports that emphasize appearance or leanness. Because of the athletes psychological defense mechanisms and the stigma surrounding disordered eating, physicians may need to ask targeted questions about nutrition habits when assessing a patient who has a stress fracture or amenorrhea, or during pre participation exams.
Carefully worded questions can help. Physical signs and symptoms include unexplained recurrent or stress fracture, dry hair, low body temperature, lanugo, and fatigue. Targeted lab tests to assess nutritional and hormonal status are essential in making a diagnosis that will steer treatment, as are optimal radiologic tests like dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry for assessing bone density. The American College of Sports Medicine has encouraged all individuals working with physically active girls and women to be educated about the triad of amenorrhea, disordered eating, and osteoporosis, and to develop plans to prevent, recognize, treat, and reduce its risks. Coaches and team physicians are often in a position to identify an eating disorder early and assist the athlete in seeking appropriate treatment.
Such a distorted view pushes everything else aside. A well balanced athlete will enjoy home, career, hobbies, friends and intellectual and cultural pursuits. But if sport is allowed to dominate completely there is dangerous imbalance. Putting lottery money into pumping children through sporting hothouses of excellence, with the lure of gold dangling ever before them, is all very well, and of course coaches and doctors must be on the lookout to pick up the pieces when young people are physically or psychologically damaged by their sport. But there will always be too many such victims while the leaders of sport whip up the appetite for fame and fortune above all else, when what they should be putting back on the menu is the joy and fun that sport has long lost. I just sit, and I pray.
I pray the people surrounding my friends will stop playing? the game? and realize what? s at stake.
I pray they realize that a life is more important than a competition. I pray for a paradigm shift in the lives of the girls who have been unfairly forced into this situation. It is not their fault. But, most of all, I pray that I don? t have to bury another friend. Is it really worth the big win?
Barnett, Nancy, and Priscilla Wright, Ph. D. , Psychological Considerations for Women in Sports, Clinics in Sports Medicine, April 1994, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 297 - 313. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, IV, Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association, 1994. French, Simone, Ph. D. , et al. , Food Preferences, Eating Patterns, and Physical Activity Among Adolescents, Journal of Adolescent Health, June 1994, Vol. 15, No. 6, pp. 286 - 294. Johnson, Mimi, M.
D. , Disordered Eating in Active and Athletic Women, Clinics in Sports Medicine, April 1994, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 355 - 369. Native, Aurelia, M. D. , et al. , The Female Athlete Triad, Clinics in Sports Medicine, April 1994, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 405 - 418. Youth, Elizabeth, M. D. , Female Athlete Triad, Western Journal of Medicine, February 1995, Vol. 162, No. 2, pp. 149 - 150.
Free research essays on topics related to: eating disorders, binge eating, athletic performance, disordered eating, female athletes
Research essay sample on Eating Disorders Disordered Eating
