Bhanu Garg in Health

How to know if you have an Eating Disorder?

Although there is a self-explanation of the term, there is something that lies more than eating. Eating disorder is one of the complex health conditions that attack your mind. It may require medical interventions and may also require you to consult a psychological expert to alter the course. Eating disorders and their symptoms affect 20 million women and 10 million men all over the world. At certain points in their life, people often go through eating disorders. If you or anyone you know is going through adverse changes or eating disorders, you can consult the experts of Manipal Hospital, Patiala.

What are eating disorders?

Eating disorders are a range of psychological conditions that are related to unhealthy eating and related habits. Such people may start with an obsession with the type of food, body weight, and body shape. In severe cases, eating disorders can lead to serious health conditions and may result in death if left untreated.

People with eating disorders may have a variety of symptoms. Most such people develop the restriction of food, and purging behaviors like vomiting, over-exercising, and dealing with the sensation of vomiting.
Although eating disorders may affect any person or any gender at any stage of life. It mostly affects the people going through adolescence.
Nearly 13% of youth are impacted by eating disorders who have become 20 years old.
Eating disorders are the mental health conditions that often obsess you with the type of food, and body shape.
It can affect your mental health and your general health making you feel fat all the time.

What causes eating disorders?

There are a variety of factors to blame. One of these factors is genetic. Eating disorders can be genetic and may affect hereditary. If you have at least one person in your family with an eating disorder, there can be chances that any other person in the next generation may develop the same symptoms. There is around 50-50% of this expectation.

Personality traits are another cause of eating disorders. The ability to attain perfectionism, impulsivity, and neuroticism are the three types of personality traits that develop a higher risk of eating disorders.

Other potential causes include:
perceived pressures to be thin
cultural preferences for thinness, and
exposure to media, which all promotes thin people and ideology

Eating disorders and their symptoms appear to be non-existent in cultures where the facts and rights of eating disorders have not been fully adopted by the western culture and ideal of thinness. The ideals of eating disorders have been accepted by another part of the world where people are generally the ideals of each other. In a few countries, people end up having eating disorders and are likely to develop a mix of factors.

There lies a specific difference between brain structure and biology when it comes to eating disorders.
In this particular condition, the level of brain messengers including serotonin and dopamine may affect the overall brain health. However, there needs to be strong evidence in this regard.
In general, eating disorders are caused by a variety of factors that may further include genetics, biological traits, personality traits, and cultural traits.

What are the factors causing eating disorders?

Anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is one of the well-known eating disorders that affect both adults and adolescence people. Women tend to be more affected by this type of eating disorder than men. People with Anorexia nervosa often see themselves as overweight even if they are dangerously underweight. Such people tend to continuously monitor their weight, avoid normal eating habits, develop special eating habits and restrict their calories.

Common symptoms of anorexia nervosa include:

being underweight when it comes to a wide range of comparisons between their age, body weight, and height.
very restricted eating patterns
Such people often remain in continuous fear that they may gain weight, despite being underweight
They start developing an unwillingness to maintain a healthy weight and be underweight
They develop self-esteem that always explains to them they are perfect with their body shape if they will continue to have exercise and underweight management techniques
Such people often develop a distorted body image

In severe cases, anorexia can fail the heart, brain, and other important organs of the body and may ultimately lead to death.

Bulimia nervosa

Bulimia nervosa is another eating disorder that tends to affect the early adulthood and adolescence stages of any person. It tends to appear less in both men and women. People with bulimia eat usually in large amounts and at specific times. There is a term called binge eating that is connected with eating disorders. Binge eating is the type of eating in a person until he/she feels painfully full. During binge eating the person may not feel to stop eating or the ways to control eating. However, people with bulimia usually maintain a relatively normal weight.

The most common symptoms of bulimia nervosa include:

Lack of control over binge eating
Inappropriate behaviors to prevent weight gain
self-esteem over the development of body shape and body weight
a fear of gaining weight

There can be major side effects of bulimia, which may further include sore throat, or inflamed throat, swollen salivary glands, irritation in the guts, tooth decay, acid reflux, and hormonal imbalance. People going through bulimia nervosa eat larger amounts of food in short periods and then purge. They fear gaining weight despite having normal weight.

Binge eating disorder

Binge eating disorder is believed to be one of the most common eating disorders that can develop in later stages also.

The most common symptoms of binge eating disorder include:

eating large amounts of food until you feel it is uncomfortably full
feeling a lack of control
feelings distress, such as shame, disgust, or guilt, especially while thinking that you have developed binge-eating behavior
Do not strictly follow purge behavior especially when it comes to caloric intake or caloric restriction, and excessive exercise.

People with binge eating disorders and their symptoms are often overweight or obese. They may require medical treatments to treat themselves with perfect body shape. They can develop conditions like stroke, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.

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