Over-exercising teens may hide an eating disorder
Teenagers are likely to develop muscularity-related eating disorders if they already have trouble with perceived body image.They may eat more/less, use supplements/anabolic steroids or exercise excessively to achieve the body shape they want, according to US researchers.
“Engaging in excessive muscle-building or bulking behaviors may put young people at greater risk for developing an eating disorder,”said Dr. Jason Nagata, a researcher at the University of California (UC) in San Francisco.
Upon following some 14,900 teens and young adults from age 15 for seven years, the researchers found issues by the time these youngsters were 18 to 24 years old – almost one in 20 females and more than one in five males had one or more symptoms of muscularity-related eating disorders.
Among teen boys, exercising to gain weight tied to a two-fold risk of muscularity-related eating disorders, while a self-image of being underweight was associated with 56% higher odds of this type of problem eating. Similarly, excessive exercise among teen girls tied to a more than tripled risk of this type of disordered eating, while teen girls who viewed themselves as underweight were more than three times as likely to develop muscularity-related eating disorders.
Interestingly, 6.9% of boys also said they had used supplements to gain weight or build muscle and 2.8% said they used anabolic steroids, but just 0.7% of the young women used supplements and only 0.4% used steroids. Unbeknownst to them, muscle-bulking steroids/supplements are illegal and dangerous, with the potential to cause heart damage, mood swings and a variety of other health issues.
These adopted behaviours may easily escalate to muscle dysmorphia, characterised by rigid diet, obsessive over-exercising and extreme preoccupation with physique. In dire situations, it can lead to heart failure, over exertion and major depression.
However, Nagata has revealed that disordered eating to increase bulk may masquerade as healthy habits, making most challenging to diagnose, but it is important for parents and doctors need to watch out for youth who aren’t losing weight but exercise obsessively.
Even though the study did not assess the frequencies of these various behaviors, C. Alix Timko, a Psychologist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia elaborates, “Over-exercise is associated with disordered eating to be leaner (lose weight) and to gain weight (increase muscle bulk) – exercising every day can be problematic.”
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