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Athletes and Eating Disorders
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The number of athletes with eating disorders continues to rise, especially among those involved in sports that place great emphasis on the athlete to be thin. Athletes involved in sports such as gymnastics, figure skating, cheer leading, dancing, ballet, synchronized swimming, diving, horse racing and ski jumping are at higher risk for developing an eating disorder than are non-athletes or athletes involved in sports like basketball, football or weight lifting.
Any sport that requires thinness or weight control places athletes at risk for developing an eating disorder.
Athletes with an eating disorder may have the same basic mentality than non-athletes with an eating disorder, but athletes tend to have different reasons for continuing with eating disorders. The mentality to continue for non-athletes is looking good. For athletes the mentality is slightly the same. Many male and female athletes fall victim to eating disorders in a desperate attempt to be thin in order to please coaches and judges. Many coaches are guilty of pressuring these athletes to be thin by criticizing them or making reference to their weight. Those comments could cause an athlete to resort to dangerous methods of weight control and can do serious emotional damage to the athlete.
Body shape and genetics make it nearly impossible for some athletes to lose weight and remain healthy.
In a way, eating disorders are diets and fitness or sports programs gone horribly wrong. A person wants to lose weight, get fit, excel in his or her sport, but then develops obsessive thoughts about food and training, ultimately losing control and ending up with body and spirit ravaged by starvation, binge eating, purging, and compulsive exercise. What may have begun as a solution to problems of low self-esteem has now become an even bigger problem in its own right.
Female Athlete Triad
Some girls and women who do sports or exercise are at risk for a problem called "Female Athlete Triad". Female athlete triad - also known as female athletic triad - is a combination of three conditions:
disordered eating, amenorrhea (irregular period or loss of period), and osteoporosis (a weakening of the bones)
A female athlete can have one, two, or all three parts of the triad.
Common characteristics of patients who have the Female Athlete Triad:
Perfectionist personality, high expectations for self
Being a competitive athlete
Playing sports that require you to check your weight often
Exercising more than is necessary for your sport
Being pushed by your coach or your parents to win at all cost
Not having time to spend with your friends because your sport takes up all your free time
Self-critical behavior Low self-esteem
Depressive symptoms
Achieving or maintaining low body weight and lean physique
Stress fracture without significant change in training
Multiple or recurrent stress fractures
Young age (adolescent, young adult)
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