75 Eating and Body Dysmorphic Disorders
Like stated in the introduction, everyone, who looks at an athlete as a role model, tend to want the same body as that athlete; however, they do not understand the extermes an athletes goes though to get there bodies that way In some cases, those extremes arent safe. For intance, many athletes suffers from eating disorders such as anorexia or bulima nervosa, and binge-eating disorder, which are common in both males and females. Males tend to also suffer from muscle or body dysmorphic,but current study have shown that they suffer from eating disorders as well. Studies have shown that 16 -72% of female athletes suffer from an eating disorder (Montgomery,2010). While only 5- 15% of males suffer, however more men tend to suffer more with binge-eating,. Studies have shown the 35% of men have this disorder.(Chang)
- Anorexia Nervosa: is an eating disorder characterized by unrealistic fear of weight gain, self-starvation, and conspicuous distortion of body image.
- Athletes with Anorexia Nervosa refuse to maintain a healthy body weight. Their body weight is 85% lower than that of expected weight or fail to make expected weight gains. They experience an intense fear of gaining weight.
- When an athlete becomes anorexic, their performance is affected by the weakness caused by the disorder. The athlete will say they are fat when they are clearly thin to everyone else. These athletes have difficulty admitting they have a problem.
- An example of this is a gymnast who will strive to make herself thin by not eating or eating a diet of celery to maintain the thin stature expected in the sport. When a sport medical team observes an athlete that appears to be too thin, anorexia should be suspected. When dealing with anorexia, the sports medical team should focus on the distress the athlete currently has rather than focusing on the weight issue. Suggesting going to see if there is a problem is better perceived by the athlete than telling them to go to therapy.
- A widely used diagnostic tool, the body mass index measures the body fat based on the weight and the height of an individual. Developed by a Belgian scientist Adolphe Quetelet, it helps to calculate how healthy a person is, based on his weight and identify whether the person is underweight, overweight or obese. The relation of BMI to fatness differs for people of different age and gender. For example, the BMI of women is likely to be higher than that of men.
- To calculate your BMI, just take your weight in kilograms and divide it with your height in meters. The result has to be again divided by the height in meters. For example if your weight is 60 kg and height is 1.50 m, then the BMI would be 26.67 (60/1.50 = 40 and 40/1.50 = 26.67). Thereafter you can compare your BMI to the weight ranges set out by the World Health Organization (WHO). This applies to both adult men and women but varies for children and older people.
- Calucating BMI,is the same for both. men an