Sport Anorexia Treatment for eating disorder warning signs

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R) American Psychiatric Association (1987), eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, eating disorders not otherwise specified: "Ortorexia: obsession by health food "and" polydipsia: excessive ingest of water is also dangerous, action ruminant (regurgitation of food) in childhood, like eating unnatural food types and recently has joined the pathology of profuse short intake within-binge-(DSM-IV).

Athletes know that the quickest way to lose weight is by reducing body water, therefore, in many cases, diuretics to reduce body weight, especially if they are "past" of weight for the category in which they wished to compete. But this is essential for the regulation of body temperature and we know that an athlete is dehydrated may tire and have a heat stroke more easily. This can cause a significant deterioration in the performance of the individual.

Fasting also hurts a lot of sports performance, especially in endurance sports like cycling and running. This decrease in performance may be due to depletion of muscle glycogen, which is lower in low-intensity sports.

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• Weight loss (> 5% of estimated weight)
• Delayed menarche to age 16
• Menstrual dysfunction
• Gastrointestinal aches
• Absence of pathology to explain the weight loss
• Distorted body image
• Excessive fear of being obese
• Food restriction
• Use of purgatives methods
• Binge eating
• Intense training

The fact of dieting and losing weight does not mean that an athlete has any of these disorders, but should pay attention to:

• Feeling and / or being overweight when their weight is below average.
• Follow losing weight off season.
• Eating in secret.
• Disappearance repeatedly after meals.
• Apparent nervousness if you can not be alone after a meal.
• Eyes red after being in the bathroom.
• Smell of vomit in the toilet, sink, shower or wastebasket.
• Extreme fluctuations in weight.
• Evidence of water retention caused by known pathology.
• Constipation.
• Variation in mood (depression, etc.).
• Refusal to eat with the rest of the team.
• Activity unresponsive excessive physical training plan.
• Serious lack of at least three consecutive menstrual periods.

These eating disorders are usually accompanied by a history of low self-esteem, difficulty in solving problems, family background and be a critical and domineering mother and passive father, submissive, stress, etc. They can be triggered from a simple comment from a person close (family members, coaches, athletic directors and even their own colleagues).

These comments can be put nicknames, ridicule, or make reckless comments. Other mechanisms "trigger" may be the loss of coach, unexpected illness or injury temporarily prevented him from continuing with normal levels of physical activity and sexual abuse by their coaches. With regard to the physiological predisposition, we can cite: the temperament, the intensity of hunger and level of activity.

It has also been hypothesized that certain sports could attract people anorexic "attraction of sport." In these cases, it appears that people try to use exercise to "burn" extra calories, justify or hide their abnormal eating disease. Sports that may attract these individuals are those who emphasize the leanness and include high volumes of training such as skiing, running, etc. Also, sports that require aerobic training can be used as a method to reduce body weight. We must bear in mind that we only talk about "attraction of the sport when the athlete already had the disease at the time to choose the sport, it should be noted that elite gymnasts start training at 6-7 years of age and pathology develops a decade later.

It is essential that coaches are aware that exert a strong influence on their athletes. Simply make a comment about her figure or advising weight loss without offering professional help, can lead or contribute to the development of pathologies in athletes predisposed.

Studies by Epling and Pierce (1988) and Epling and colleagues (1983) suggest that diet and exercise could start the cycle anorexic and 75% of cases of anorexia are induced by exercise. They base their hypothesis that intense exercise can suppress appetite (due to changes in the levels of endorphins), the athlete eats less food, thus decreasing their body weight. This weight reduction, further encourages physical exercise.