Social media promotes eating disorders in female athletes, researchers warn.
Athletes described harrowing stories, including running five miles as punishment after eating a cookie and regaining consciousness at the gym after fasting for 24 hours, researchers at Rocky Vista University in Colorado polled.
In one case, a star volleyball player died of a fatal heart attack related to her condition. Jesse Diggins, who rode for Team USA at last year’s Beijing Olympics, has also indicated that she struggles with bulimia.
Experts warn that social media has been a key driver, as influencers using tools such as Photoshop to enhance their features lead to unrealistic standards for women’s bodies.
Young girls across America are suffering from an increase in eating disorders in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
Jessie Diggins (pictured last year in Beijing for the Olympics) won bronze in cross country. She also has detailed eating disorders that made her throw up several times a day
Former American gymnast Vanessa Atler (pictured at the 1998 Goodwill Games in New York) became a gymnast in 1997 when she was just 15 years old. However, she said she was also weighed three times a day, which caused her to develop an eating disorder
Experts say that unrealistic body standards have been imposed on female athletes for years.
However, social platforms such as Instagram and Facebook have increased the pressure on young women to be “perfect”.
Dr. Kathryn Vidlock, a family medicine expert at Rocky Vista University, said, “Washing information is often perpetuated on social media by ‘fitness influencers’ who are not really qualified to provide health information.
“When you create Photoshop and other editing devices, the images rendered by media are not realistic.
The 24-year-old swimmer reveals how she suffered from bulimia
Lucy Davis, 24, from Salford, Manchester, swam internationally for England and finished fifth in the British Championships before pausing her career to attend university.
“Many teenagers cannot achieve their body type without engaging in harmful restrictive eating habits.
“They feel the pressure to look ideal, and then they feel like they’re never good enough unless they copy the unrealistic bodies that the media sees.”
Many world-class athletes have opened up to eating disorders as they try to conform to the “ideal” body image.
they include Olympic gold medalist Jessie Diggins of Minnesota said she was diagnosed with bulimia and started throwing up “several times a day” to shed fat.
She also started snacking — like a bowl of cereal — and then forcing herself to run for 45 minutes between workouts, as well as believing she couldn’t drink drinks like hot chocolate and be fat from cutting steaks.
And former top US gymnast Vanessa Atler, who said she was weighed three times a day and started forcing herself to throw up.
Other athletes have spoken out about physical ailments, including tennis star Serena Williams, who says she was constantly told she was “too muscular”.
The researchers detailed their nearly a dozen interviews with athletes in their 204-page book titled. Spring Forward: Balanced Diet, Exercise, and Body Image in Sport for Female Athletes.
The lyrics bring to light how negative body image is in almost all sports, especially in high school.
Norms that women try to follow is that all runners are “very thin”, they said.
But in many cases, female runners have muscular legs, she added, which can lead to them being subjected to “degrading comments.”
The graph above shows the number of emergency room visits in the United States for eating disorders among girls and boys between the ages of 12 and 17. The dark blue line represents girls and the dashed line represents boys
The book also describes how to solve the problem in women’s sports to prevent more women from developing an eating disorder.
The authors say that healthy eating and nutrition advice should be offered to all young women, from high school to elite athletes. It should also include lessons on body shapes.
This will protect them from unhealthy eating and dieting habits such as ketogenic and other self-defeating behaviors to achieve unrealistic ideals, they said.
The book also contains comprehensive guides to positive eating plans, the consequences of eating disorders, such as: B. missing periods and how parents can recognize warning signs.
The authors also developed a LENTE (Strength and Positivity Rooted in Nutrition for Girls) educational program for secondary schools, which is detailed in the book.
They ask that it be offered in schools, colleges and among adults to identify at-risk women at an early stage.
SPRING focuses on increasing body image “flexibility,” which the authors define as the ability to feel secure in one’s body, regardless of size or shape. It consists of three one-hour sessions spread over the athlete’s season.
Data from the authors’ research indicates that SPRING led to a more than 22 percent increase in body image flexibility among cheerleaders in Colorado schools.
Dr. Vidlock was a team physician at the University of Iowa, local teams and physician for athletes from recreational to Olympic trials.
She was an All-American collegiate swimmer and understands the mindset of athletic performance, having worked for performance and with athletes for over two decades.
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
