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The reality of eating disorders in sport
May
Great Britain faces what charity organizations call an epidemic of eating disorders, with estimated 1.25 million people afflicted. These conditions have the highest mortality rate for all mental health diseases, which means that early intervention and education are urgent.
However, in the world of sport, eating disorders often become undetected and unquestioned. Disordered behavior, such as limiting food consumption, cleansing, overeating or abuse of laxatives, are sometimes normalized in competitive environments, embedded in routine and hidden as sacrifice.
Nutrition disorders bloom in silence. They are mysterious, isolate and can affect athletes of all sexes, age and origin, whether at a grassroots or elite level.
In sport, several factors can cause or worsen disordered behavior: pressure for execution, body dissatisfaction, weight category requirements and cultural ideals of what a “sport” body should look like.
In this context, harmful practices, such as dehydration, extreme cutting of body weight and overtraining are often accepted-sometimes they are even encouraged.
Read more: How warriors bring importance in combat sport – and recover it for a match
In some sports, the risk is tragically clear. Take bodybuilding. One of the painful examples is the 20-year-old Jodi Vancewho died of heart failure caused by dehydration during preparation for the competition.
Nutritional disorders are often recognized in combat sport and martial arts, but significant solutions are rarely discussed. Fighters like Paige Vanzant AND Kay Hansen They openly shared their struggles with disordered food, which in many sports is still rejected as “part of the process”.
Extreme tactics
Even worse, some trainers consolidate a toxic culture by embarrassing athletes’ fat or joke about grave conditions such as bulimia. In such environments, adolescent athletes can be trapped in physical and emotional cycles.
In my own research with British fighters of mixed martial arts (MMA) I spent months observing and interviewing athletes at various gyms. Many have described extreme slimming tactics before fighting-insulting both fat and water in dangerously brief time frames. These methods affected both their bodies and mental health.
I witnessed how fighters fall with exhaustion and dehydration. I heard that coaches are joking about eating disorders. One warrior told me: “I won’t even recognize myself,” repeating public experiences Fighter UFC Paddy Pimblettwho shared his struggles with the drunk food and image of the body.
These stories hit close to the house.
During my own stay in MMA, I developed atypical anorexia, bulimia and eating disorder. I was praised for rapid weight loss – not for my skills or performance. At some point I trained to such an extent that I experienced hearting, dizziness and nausea. However, these symptoms were rejected as signs of “good training”.
Nutrition disorders do not discriminate
Even when I lived in a larger body, I still suffered from eating disorders. This is a key reminder: you can’t say if someone is bad looking at them. This is not just a problem in combat sports. Disordered food affects athletes In many disciplines.
Footballer Katrina GorryIN Krykiecista Freddy Flintoff AND Cyclist Davide Cimmai These are just a few well -known athletes who publicly talked about their experiences.
In fact, disordered thoughts can affect athletes at any stage of their career. Today, even after competing in the international arena in American and Australian football, I still live with disordered thinking about food and body image.
Elite athletes May be particularly sensitive. According to 2023 Report on the health of women’s athletes74% of respondents said that they do not feel like they looked like an athlete, and 91% worried about consumption of calories.
. 2024 BBC test Similar results found similar results on the elite British athletes, reflecting persistent Pressure to adapt Narrow body ideals.
Read more: Elite sports with a greater risk of eating disorders
There were some encouraging changes in politics. In MMA, emergency rules now prohibit Extreme weight cutting methods Like hydration IV, where liquids and electrolytes are given directly in veins, bypassing the digestive system. British gymnastics, a body regulating competitive gymnastics in Great Britain, forbade Coaches from weighing athletes – Earnest movement, taking into account documented sport problems.
However, these steps are just the beginning. Power imbalance still exist in many sports in which trainers Have a huge influence over Athlete’s health, body and self -feeling.
Coaches can be a strength to recover – or part of the problem. Must Be better trained To detect early signs of disordered behavior, provide support and promotion of a culture that values mental well -being over appearance.
To create safer sports environments, we need a better marking of athletes on obtaining facilitate, education of trainers and staff in the field of awareness of eating disorders, cultural transition from bodily perfection and in the direction of sustainable performance and health policy and policy for athletes that protect both physical and mental well -being.
Recovery is possible. But prevention – through consciousness, education and empathy – can save lives for a long time from the necessary treatment.
Sport should be a place of strength, height and resistance – not hidden damage.
If anything in this article causes anxiety or concern for eating disorders, visit Beat website For more information and support.
