Eating Disorders in Female Athletes
...mon especially among young women of normal or nearly normal weight that is characterized by episodic binge eating and followed by feelings of guilt, depression, and self-condemnation. It is often associated with measures taken to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting, the use of laxatives, dieting, or fasting.” Many people do not understand that anorexia and bulimia have little or nothing to do with food. Anorexics and bulimics generally have little or no control over the rest of their lives, and what they eat or do not eat is something no one else can regulate. Anorexics and bulimics use starvation as a way to get back at their coaches or parents for putting to much pressure on them. Those who suffer from the anorexia and bulimia do not just have an eating disorder; they have a disease of the mind. Athletes are under pressure everyday because they are expected to excel. Pressure is not always a bad thing for an athlete. Pressure to do her personal best is great; this pressure gives her motivation. However, when a coach constantly asks his athlete why she did not finish in first place or how she let the skinny girl beat her, the pressure to win becomes dangerous. Many girls are put under pressure by their coaches to achieve above and beyond their physical limits; this pressure causes many female athletes to develop an eating disorder. Coaches sometimes put their girls in a dangerous frame of mind. The director of the Boston Ballet’s junior ensemble was one of those coaches. Anna-Marie Holmes, told Heidi Guenther, a member of the Boston Ballet’s junior ensemble, to lose weight. She began a dangerous cycle of not eating and exercising too much. She had a classic case of anorexia nervosa. Heidi died at age 22 of a racing, pounding heart, which is a common symptom for sufferers of anorexia nervosa. When she died, she was 5’3” and one hundred pounds (Dunning 1). Many coaches joke around with their athletes and tell them, “Looks like you are packing on the pounds,” or “Someone has eaten one to many donuts” or “Someone is a little slow today”. To a female athlete who has the potential to have anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, these joking comments are not a joke. These girls honestly believe their coaches think they are fat, and if these girls believe they are fat, they will do anything to lose weight. Because, they believe, if they are fat, then they cannot perform, and to not be able to perform is death to their athletic career. Although many coaches mean well, girls with the potential to have anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, can and, mostly likely, will succumb to the pressure their coaches put on them. Female athletes are not only put under pressure by their coaches; their parents put them under pressure and the athletes put pressure on themselves. Normally, when parents put pressure on their athlete, it is because they want her to obtain the joy of success after hard work. But, when a parent begins to pressure her athlete to finish first in every race or when a parent asks her athlete why she allows all the skinner girls beat her, the pressure becomes hazardous. Parents often do not know when they are putting too much pressure on their athlete; they find out once the athlete develops the eating disorder. A female athlete with an eating disorder is putting herself under an unrealistic amount of pressure: pressure to succeed and pressure to please. Athletes are natural born perfectionists, and for an athlete, to be perfect, she has to win. A female athlete also put pressure on to please her coach, her parents, and anyone who happens to be watching her. Many to achieve success and to keep others happy are driven to anorexia. This temporary success, which is seemingly due to her eating disorder, pleases her coaches and her parents, and therefore, she finds nothing wrong with starving herself. Female athletes are put under pressure by many different sources. What makes female athletes more prone to eating disorders then non-athletic females? Female athletes have the tendency to believe smaller bodies are more efficient and will help them win. (Lepke1)Most athletes naturally have the “no pain, no gain” mentality. This mentality can be dangerous, especially for an athlete. The female athlete with anorexia or bulimia believes the pain of hunger is just a sacrifice she must make in order to get ahead in her sport. What is more, athletes have a higher tendency towards self restraint and discipline then do non athletes (Lepke1). Therefore, a female athlete, if she chooses, has an easier time disciplining herself to refrain from eating; this self discipline makes female athletes more prone to eating disorders then the general population. Another reason female athletes are more likely to have an eating disorder is athletes, in general, tend to be perfectionists. So, when an athlete is told by her coach she must lose a couple pounds in order to compete at her peak, the perfectionist in her commits to being what her coach deems to be the “perfect weight”. Many female athletes have a pre-existing ideal of perfect performance, and when this is applied to competitive sports, could manifest into eating disorder (Lepke1). The personality traits of female athletes put them at a greater risk for an eating disorder. Two sports where eating disorders almost seen as ordinary are ballet and gymnastics. A ballerina has a great deal of pressure put on her, but the greatest pressure is being skinny. Ballet dancers are constantly told to lose weight to obtain the ideal “ballerina’s body”; this body is lean, has long legs, and has a short torso. One ballet dancer ...