Eating Disorders in Adolescence

Introduction

?Eating disorders are a form of illness characterized by irregular eating patterns, either eating much or eating less food. These disorders can affect any person despite the age, may develop at any stage of life, but more frequently, they occur at the adolescent stage (Marzilli et al., 2018). Some of the disorders turn out to be more severe and sometimes may result in death. In adolescents, these eating disorders affect them in a complicated way where the effects appear severally. Eating disorders tend to affect female adolescents since it is at this stage; many start worrying about their body shapes and conditions.?

Over the past years, eating disorders among young people have increased as the modern way of living keeps expanding. Cases of eating disorders in the past were rare even among adults and even children below adolescence. Eating disorders were less prevalent in the past. The few instances were attributed to biological factors and were uncontrollable. Over the last three years, cases of eating disorders have increased at a significant rate; this is according to (Marzilli et al., 2018). This issue of increased food disorders results from the high technology and adoption of modern ways of living that directly and indirectly affect eating habits. ?Eating disorders can occur in three different types: Binge Eating Disorder, Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa.

Binge Eating Disorder

Binge eating disorder is a form of eating disorder where an adolescent fails to control the eating habits and keeps on eating. A state where they cannot control their hunger develops and all they need is to keep on eating (Brownley et al., 2016).?Most of the time, such adolescents do not realize that they have a problem and find fun eating that much. Such a condition is most likely to occur in adolescents who spend most of their time indoors. Most of them come from wealthy families, where they have easier access to sweet foods that will make them keep eating repeatedly. The resulting situation is that they end up gaining excess body weight and lose body shape, especially females. These young people get exposed to high chances of being attacked by other illnesses such as cardiovascular, where the blood circulation in body tissues is affected. Females, adolescents with massive bodies, will then develop a sense of guilt and embarrassment when comparing their bodies with others.

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is another eating disorder characterized by limiting the food where the body does receive food that is enough for body processes and growth (Gibson et al., 2019). Most of the time, young people will fear having massive bodies, so they believe that they will maintain the right body size by minimizing the amount of food they are eating. In some situations, such adolescents will avoid some types of food, such as proteins. Proteins are the bodybuilding foods and provide the body with essential nutrients, and when they lack in their bodies, some illnesses are likely to affect them.

?This notion of eating less food is usually unrealistic since an increase in body size cannot be controlled merely by the amount of food they eat. In return, the absence of enough food to sustain the body will result in somebody's parts being affected and abnormal functioning (Gibson et al., 2019). Some of the adolescents may not avoid eating intentionally but are forced by situations. Some may come from unstable families where they cannot access enough food or may not have a meal with a balanced diet.??

?One of the body parts that is seriously affected due to limited food is the brain. Most of these adolescents at this stage spend most of their time in school, meaning their minds are active most of the time, so the brain requires adequate energy. According to (Gibson et al., 2019), limited food means that the energy will also be limited for the brain, leading to fainting situations. Anorexia Nervosa, in some cases, results in stunted growth since it is at this stage that the body is developing. In some cases, if not well considered, it may result in death.

Bulimia Nervosa

Bulimia nervosa is the third eating disorder that is characterized by overeating. However, this overeating is accompanied by practices that will try to compensate for that food, such as inducing vomiting, excessive boy exercises, and sometimes finding ways to alter the digestion processes of the food they have eaten (Hirst et al., 2017). This eating disorder happens mostly to the well-informed adolescent who tends to act as if they are treating their bodies. Sometimes, these adolescents will have some medication that they follow strictly after having meals. Such drugs come from fellow peers who act to know everything and sometimes get such information from internet websites. Such information in the real sense is myths.

These youths secretly do these acts of compensating meals secretly without the parents' knowledge or even the teachers in school. Such adolescents are the most likely to have high levels of insecurities concerning their bodies. Such actions mean they are trying to find easier ways of bodybuilding, especially boys. In girls, they go for these practices to form new body skin that looks more attractive.

These practices have profound effects that affect the heart's normal functioning and breathing problems due to over-exercising. Also, severe dehydration may occur in the processes, resulting in death if not well taken care of (Hirst et al., 2017). These practices in long land tend to affect the balance of hormones in the body.

Factors Leading to Eating Disorders

According to (Smith et al., 2018), the cause of eating disorders is not clearly stated. Still, they are believed to be a result of combing the following factors, classified into biological factors, environmental factors, and psychological factors.

Biological Factors

Irregular distribution of body hormones is one of the factors that may contribute to body disorders among adolescents. Hormones are susceptible when it comes to food body requirements. Some of the hormones required in alerting the body when it comes to food requirements may fail (Smith et al., 2018).?This situation may result in a state where the adolescent loses appetite, consequently leading to reduced eating. Other cases are where hormones may be in excess, resulting in the body demanding more food to make the adolescent eat more and more.

Another factor in eating disorders is the influence of genetics. This genetic factor is where the adolescent may inherit the disorder from the parents. This disorder may be hard to control since it will demand alteration of the body genes, which is very hard to achieve. Another biological state is nutritional deficiency, especially in this stage of adolescence, where the body will need more nutrients. This nutritional deficiency will result in a high dietary demand that will result in the body will demand more food that will make the adolescent keep on eating.

Psychological Factors

Eating disorders may be all about the adolescent's mental state. One of the psychological factors is the body's negative perspective (Smith et al., 2018).?Some of these young people are not happy with the way their bodies appear, and they will try to alter by controlling the meals they take. Some will try to reduce the food to have slim bodies, while others will eat more to increase their size.

The other psychological factor is the issue of self-esteem among adolescents. Some of them are na?ve, especially when it comes to eating, and in some situations, they will fail to ask for food when hungry. Having healthy eating will require some inner courage as well as that self-acceptance.

Environmental Factors

The environment surrounding adolescents is most likely to influence the eating habits of an individual. A good example is the sports that young people will engage mainly in school. Such situations will focus on having an appropriate body that will make them fit for the activities (Smith et al., 2018).?Therefore, they will try to alter their eating habits. For example, dancing in girls will require them to have slim bodies, and in return, they will try to control their eating.

The dysfunctional family is another cause that may lead to eating disorders among adolescents. An example is financial instabilities that may make the adolescents have enough food or complete lack of food. Also, factors such as divorcing parents may cause depression among adolescents, affecting their eating habits.

Conclusion

Eating disorders are one of the challenges that are emerging and increasing among adolescents. They are a result of internal factors as well as external factors. Eating disorders may be a considerable challenge and need to be addressed earlier to develop good health. This awareness may be through introducing programs, especially in schools where food disorders awareness is made and the possible consequences. These approaches will help in reducing this menace of food disorders.

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References

Brownley, K. A., Berkman, N. D., Peat, C. M., Lohr, K. N., Cullen, K. E., Bann, C. M., & Bulik, C. M. (2016). Binge-eating disorder in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Annals of internal medicine, 165(6), 409-420.

Gibson, D., Workman, C., & Mehler, P. S. (2019). Medical Complications of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. The Psychiatric clinics of North America, 42(2), 263-274.

Hirst, R. B., Beard, C. L., Colby, K. A., Quittner, Z., Mills, B. M., & Lavender, J. M. (2017). Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: a meta-analysis of executive functioning. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 83, 678-690.

Marzilli, E., Cerniglia, L., & Cimino, S. (2018). A narrative review of binge eating disorder in adolescence: prevalence, impact, and psychological treatment strategies. Adolescent health, medicine, and therapeutics, 9, 17.

Smith, A. R., Ortiz, S. N., Forrest, L. N., Velkoff, E. A., & Dodd, D. R. (2018). Which comes first? An examination of associations and shared risk factors for eating disorders and suicidality. Current psychiatry reports, 20(9), 77.