Anorexia Nervosa Explained
Anorexian is Considered the "Product" of Modern Society...
Anorexia Nervosa or simply Anorexia as it is popularly known of, shares the psychological
causes that trigger other similar eating disorders, such as bulimia, binge eating and so forth.
Similarly to these eating disorders, anorexia nervosa is characterized through an extensive psychological
body image distortion and excessive weight loss.
Let's have a brief scenario of what the psychological causes as mentioned above.
The culture that we are experiencing today apply high standards of beauty are pressured upon
everyone in order to make them feel important. This is done simply for the fact that sex sells,
and advertisers know it.
By projecting impossible images for one to model their body after, companies can more
accurately market to individuals who feel that they have a problem with the way that
their body is. To that end, many feel such pressure to maintain a perfect body form that
eating disorders may arise.
Understanding Anorexia Nervosa
The modality in which this weight is lost is different than bulimia, where intentional
purging through vomiting, laxatives, enemas or other similar methods causes the weight loss.
With anorexia nervosa, the individual suffering from it wants to achieve "perfect body proportions
and weight" through voluntary starvation, excessive exercise, diet pills and unbalanced diets.
It's a mental disorder that most often occurs in adolescents, who feel added social pressure to
fit into the 'norms' of society, which are often unachievable.
A common aspect of those who are anorexic includes a body weight that is less than eighty
five percent of what it should be for a healthy individual. Sufferers may resort to many
different methods in order to lose weight(as mentioned above), sometimes coupled with the use of weight-loss supplements.
Those that are afflicted with anorexia nervosa are often never satisfied with the state of their body,
and even those who are stick-thin may still feel fat.
Anorexia nervosa is probably the most common eating disorder, even more common than bulimia.
It is a relatively new condition, since it is considered the "product" of modern society,
where individuals are fed a constant stream of visual information on how the "perfect body"
should look like and try to attain that goal.
Anorexia nervosa pops in where we lose track of a balanced way to obtain this body proportions
and image and do everything excessively: excessive exercising, excessive dieting and so forth.
All these unhealthy habits leave a deep scar in one's overall health and in severe cases,
anorexia nervosa can be life threatening.
The digestive system (especially the esophagus and stomach), the cardiovascular system
(some functions of the heart), muscular tissues and the immune system are all affected by
anorexia nervosa, each having its own subset of damaging consequences. Besides these, anorexia also
affects our hormonal levels, deranging them, disturbs electrolyte balance and generally hinders
the body from getting the required amounts of vitamins and minerals.
The condition comes in several levels of graveness, but a patient will be diagnosed with a
complete case of anorexia if he or she displays the following patterns:
Refuses to maintain a normal body weight for his or her age, height and constitution.
They may decline eating when in a public circumstance as to lead friends and family to believe
that they simply aren't hungry
An emotional and psychologically-driven fear of becoming fat (even though the patient
may look of average weight) and gaining extra weight
Denial of the gravity and seriousness of the current low body weight experienced by
the patient
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Repeated periods of voluntary starvation, excessive exercise or any of the forms in which
anorexia nervosa may appear
Even though a patient doesn't particularly display all the above-mentioned factors at
the same time, or he displays them at lower intensities, this does not mean that he has
fully avoided anorexia.
Anorexia Nervosa Facts
Studies show that almost half of today's teenagers and young men and women ages 20-30 have
experienced at least a mild form of anorexia in an emotional drop-down regarding their looks.
This eating disorder is still dominant in women, but more and more men tend to give more
importance to their looks and tend to develop softer forms of anorexia. The fact that men are
considered less emotional than women may also be a factor in the imbalanced proportion between
sexes in this particular eating disorder's case.
Girls who suffer from anorexia nervosa will experience a loss of their menstrual period, and when it
occurs for at least three months in a row, anorexia is probably evident. A sufferer may also
exhibit signs of weakness such as anxiety, a weakness of the body, and a shortness of breath.
The health effects that anorexia nervosa can have on an individual are quite drastic. Those who are
afflicted often experience an amount of bone loss and mineral loss. They exhibit a lowered body
temperature, and an irregular heartbeat can develop from the body's lack of nutrition.
Growth may permanently cease after a period of time, and osteoporosis may occur. It's a
relatively common problem within society, with one out of a hundred teenage girls in America
developing a case of anorexia.
Ten percent of these girls will die due to the disease's effects on the body, clearly
illustrating the damage that it can do. Those with anorexia require a high level of support,
and you may want to suggest your friend or family member who may be afflicted with the problem
to discuss it with an eating disorder therapist. Doctors and counselors can be of great assistance
when it comes to conquering an eating disorder such as anorexia.
While shocked thing could happen by Anorexia Nervosa, another eating disorder named Bulimia Nervosa
also has similar effects to the body. Find out more about Bulimia
Nervosa and how it damages the body here.
So, regardless of your gender however, evaluate yourself, if you find yourself having a
distorted body image, if you tend to evaluate everything revolving around you based on your body
shape and weight and if you find yourself practicing one of the above-mentioned weight loss
methods, you might be suffering from a hatching form of anorexia that needs to be treated
at once.**
You may also be interested in...
Am I Having Anorexia Nervosa?
Most of patients do not aware of it.
http://AnorexiaNervosa.com
