There are many students in colleges
around the country that struggle with eating disorders. A study showed that about 11 million Americans
continuously struggle with eating disorders (1). The study also shows that about 32% of females
and 25% of males in college struggle with eating disorders (1). With this being said, I feel like it is
important to provide information regarding eating disorders and the
physiological impact that eating disorders have on the body. It is also important to provide support for
people who struggle with these eating disorders.
Eating disorders
can be serious illnesses. Eating
disorders are usually associated with obsession with body weight, food, and body
shape. The most commonly known eating
disorders include bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and binge-eating
disorder. Anorexia Nervosa is when the
patient sees themselves as overweight; however, most of the time the person is severely
underweight (2). The most common characteristic of Anorexia is the people
continuously weight themselves, eat very small portions of food, and typically severely
restrict their diet (3). Bulimia occurs
when people have frequent episodes of eating substantial amounts of food, but
after the binge-eating episodes, the person compensates for the overeating by
vomiting, fasting, using excessive amounts of diuretics and/or laxatives,
and/or exercising excessively (3). There
are many physiological complications that arise from having eating disorders.
Melatonin
is a hormone that is released at night, which helps a person fall asleep. The hormone is usually released around 9pm. However,
many patients with eating disorders have lower levels of melatonin in their
body (4). This causes symptoms such as
having a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep (4). Also, when
the body experiences prolonged periods of decreased nutrient intake, then the
activity of opioids in a patient’s brain begins to increase (5). This causes
the person to have positive feelings, which enables the person to continue adhering
to the strict dieting regimen (5). During
times of starvation, many patients become anemic and become deficient in calcium
(6). Calcium is very important to help
proteins fold, which facilitates normal enzymatic activity (6). Iron is also important to chelate to hemoglobin. The iron allows an individual to transport
oxygen to their tissues in their body (6). This is important to ensure oxygen
delivery is efficient. These are just a
few examples of how eating disorders affect the body.
References:
1. Schubert, A. (2016).
Students push body positivity for National Eating Disorders Awareness week.
Retrieved, April 03, 2018 from http://college.usatoday.com/2016/02/25/eating-disorders-awareness-week/
2.
Anorexia:
Signs, Symptoms, Causes and Articles for Treatment. (n.d.). Retrieved April 03,
2018, from https://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/information/anorexia
3. Eating Disorders.
(n.d.). Retrieved April 03, 2018, from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/eating-disorders/index.shtml
4.
Kennedy,
S. H. (1994). Melatonin disturbances in Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. International Journal of Eating Disorders,
16(3), 257-265.
5.
Grzelak,
T., Dutkiewicz, A., Paszynska, E., Dmitrzak-Weglarz, M., Slopien, A., &
Tyszkiewica-Nwafor, M. (2017). Neurobiochemical and psychological factors
influencing the eating behavior and attitudes in anorexia nervosa. Journal of Physiology and Biochemistry, 73(2),
297-305. doi:10.1007/s13105-016-0540-2
6.
Costa,
N. D., Schtscherbyna, A., Soares, E. A., & Ribeiro, B. G. (2013).
Disordered eating among adolescent female swimmers: Dietary, biochemical, and
body composition factors. Nutrition, 29(1),
172-177. doi:10.1016/j.nut.2012.06.007
The data discussed for both college sexes is astonishing. It would be interesting to read about the media’s role for “fitting in” todays society and how it is affecting both female and male perspective of themselves. To what degree is media impacting individuals with the way they see themselves. Kristen discusses in her article how this thin ideal model present in todays society is correlated with eating disorders (https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/75586/j.1460-2466.2000.tb02856.x.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y ). On another note, many clinicians are trying to integrate physical activity and exercise as an inpatient treatment plan for eating disorders ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30258631 ). The authors discuss how exercise plans are adjusted on a case to case basis. In addition, this approach allows the entire body to connect to both the physical and emotional aspects we as humans can do (a holistic and evidence based treatment plan). So far it has been a promising approach because the patients are on track to gain healthy weight. It is interesting to see that clinicians are trying to incorporate exercise as a way to increase weight, because to me that seems counterintuitive. However, it is showing to be promising and beneficial to the patients, so we ought to keep doing it, right?
ReplyDeleteTo answer one of Alina's questions about social media impacting one's self image, there is a viewpoint in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery) titled, "Selfies — Living in the Era of Filtered Photographs." The article talks about "snapchat dysmorphia" and smartphone apps such as facetune and instagram that are impacting the plastic surgery industry. In light of this alarming trend, JAMA suggests that an intervention rooted in cognitive behavior therapy and medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors be used in combination to treat these disorders.
ReplyDeleteAs clinicians are making plans that involve diet control, sleep schedules, and exercising regimes - I think it's important to weight the impact of social media. Especially considering that college students are high and constant consumers of social media.