Eating Disorders: Anorexia Sports or athletic

ccording to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R) American Psychiatric Association (1987), eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, eating disorders not otherwise specified "Orthorexia: obsession for healthy food "and" Potomanía: excess water is also dangerous, action ruminant (regurgitation of food) in childhood, like eating unnatural food types and recently has joined the pathology of profuse intake in short time-binge-(DSM-IV).

As has tried unsuccessfully to identify athletes who show significant symptoms of eating disorders according to DSM-III-R, it was decided to classify as a disorder called anorexia athletica "or" sports anorexia.

The term anorexia athletica or sport is defined as a condition that is prevalent among athletes and is characterized by intense fear of gaining weight or becoming obese, even if the person is lean. The weight loss is accompanied by a reduction in caloric intake, often combined with long-term exercise.

Restricting calorie intake is below what is necessary to maintain the energy requirements of high volume training. Apart from normal training to improve athletic performance, athletes with anorexia athletica perform exercise excessively or binge to purge their bodies of the effect of feeding. Often report having binges and then purges use. This compulsive eating is planned and included in his strict training schedule and study.

Athletes know that the quickest way to lose weight is by reducing body water, therefore, in many cases consume diuretics to reduce their body weight, especially if they are "past" weight for the category in which they wished to compete. But this is essential for regulating body temperature and dehydrated know that an athlete can be tiring and heat stroke more easily. This can cause a significant deterioration in the performance of the individual.

Fasting also hurts athletic performance greatly, especially in endurance sports like cycling and running. This decrease in performance may be due to depletion of muscle glycogen, which is lower in low-intensity sports.

Diagnostic criteria for anorexia athletic

• Weight loss (> 5% of estimated weight)
• Delayed menarche to 16 years
• Menstrual dysfunction
• Gastrointestinal upset
• Absence of pathology to explain the weight loss
• Distorted body image
• Excessive fear of being obese
• Food restriction
• Use of purgatives methods
• Compulsive eating
• Very intense training

Symptoms
The fact of dieting and losing weight does not mean that an athlete has any of these disorders, but should be given to:

• Feeling and / or being overweight when their weight is below average.
• Keep losing weight even out of season.
• Eat in secret.
• Disappearance repeatedly after meals.
• Apparent nervousness if you can not stay alone after meals.
• Eyes red after being in the bathroom.
• Smell of vomit in the toilet, sink, shower or wastebasket.
• Extreme fluctuations in weight.
• Evidence of water retention caused by pathology.
• Constipation.
• Change in mood (depression, etc.)..
• Refusal to eat with the rest of the team.
• Excessive physical activity that does not respond to the training plan.
• Absence of at least three consecutive menstrual periods.

Causes

These eating disorders are usually accompanied by a history of low self-esteem, difficulty solving problems, family environment to be unfavorable as a domineering mother and parents critical and passive, submissive, stress, etc.. They can be triggered from a simple comment from a related person (family, coaches, athletic directors and even their own colleagues).

These comments can be put nicknames, ridicule, or make reckless comments. Other mechanisms "trigger" may be the loss of coach, unexpected illness or injury temporarily prevented him from continuing with normal levels of physical activity and sexual abuse by their coaches. With regard to the physiological predisposition, we can cite: the temperament, the intensity of hunger and activity level.

It has also been hypothesized that certain sports could attract people anorexic "attraction of sport." In these cases, it appears that people try to use exercise to "burn" extra calories, justify or hide their abnormal eating disease. Sports that may attract these individuals are those who stress the magreza and include high volumes of training such as skiing, running, etc..

Also, sports that require aerobic training can be used as a method to reduce body weight. We should note that only talk about "attraction of the sport when the athlete already had the disease at the time of choosing the sport, it should be noted that elite gymnasts start training at 6-7 years of age and pathology develops a decade later.

It is essential that coaches are aware that exert a strong influence on their athletes. Simply make a comment about her figure or advise a weight reduction without offering professional help, can lead or contribute to the development of diseases in predisposed athletes.

Studies conducted by Epling and Pierce (1988) and Epling and colleagues (1983) suggest that diet and exercise could start the cycle anorexic and 75% of cases of anorexia are induced by exercise. They base their hypothesis that intense exercise can suppress appetite (due to changes in the levels of endorphins), the athlete eats less food, thus decreasing their body weight. This weight reduction, stimulates further physical exercise.



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