Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder that causes people to not eat the right amount of calories every day. The restrict the amount of calories that they consume in order to work toward a self-described better body image. There is anxiety that weight will be gained with those who suffer from anorexia and these fears translate into their eating habits. It kills more than 1,000 women in the United States, but even men can be affected by this disorder that destroys the human body from the inside out.
There are some interesting facts about Anorexia Nervosa that you may not have known about already. By knowing these facts, we can all recognize and then help the individuals who are suffering inside their own living hell every day.
1. Men make up about 10% of the entire population that suffers from this eating disorder.
For every 9 women that suffer from Anorexia Nervosa, there will be at least 1 man who is limiting his caloric intake because of problems with his self-image. In practical terms, this accounts for only 0.1% of the total male population, but it is still a serious enough disorder that it can be fatal as well. Although the fatality rates for men are generally not tracked, if the statistics hold true across the board, about 100 men die every year from this eating disorder.
2. It’s a lot more common than you might think.
Anorexia Nervosa is actually the leading cause of death in young women under the age of 24. It is 12x more likely that young girls and women are going to die from Anorexia than any other cause – including traffic accidents or suicide. For the age demographic that fits between the ages of 12-26, 95% of the cases of Anorexia Nervosa that are diagnosed every year come from people within those ages.
3. The problem with this eating disorder might start at a very early age.
Repetitive surveys and research has shown that girls as young as 6 are concerned about what their bodies look like. They are specifically concerned about how much fat is on their bodies and what their weight happens to be. These are also the two specific areas of focus that tend to be present in individuals who are suffering from Anorexia Nervosa. This is extremely problematic because not only have eating disorders risen annually since 1950, but Anorexia Nervosa in particular has the highest rates of death than any other psychiatric disorder that has been diagnosed.
4. Young women are becoming more anorexic every day.
Anorexia Nervosa data has been being tracked since 1930 and in every decade, girls in the 15-19 age demographic have seen increases in the amount of diagnosed cases of this eating disorder. Girls that come from a Caucasian background are the most susceptible to the influences of anorexic thinking patterns and it is believed that some of the problem is due to advertising and celebrity images that are widely distributed. These images celebrate a certain image and girls want to replicate the image because they see it as popular.
5. 30 million people suffer from at least one eating disorder every year.
Despite the millions of people who are suffering from an eating disorder like Anorexia Nervosa at any given time, hardly any money is going towards research in this area. On average, only $28 million is spent on all eating disorders. This means that less than $1 of research is handed out per person, per year, to help eliminate eating disorders. We can spend more than $1 on a candy bar when we go grocery shopping.
6. As girls get older, their fears about becoming fat get worse and worse.
Did you know that 80% of girls are afraid of becoming fat by the time they reach the age of 10? Even in the third grade, the tendencies of Anorexia Nervosa are being displayed because 40% of the girls at that grade level have an active desire to be thinner. More than half of all girls under the age of 18 are using unhealthy dieting tactics, including the use of laxatives or purging, to control their weight in better ways. Those who see themselves as overweight or more likely to engage in these dangerous tactics of weight control.
7. Most people don’t ever seek treatment for Anorexia Nervosa.
About 1 person out of 10 with this eating disorder will ever seek out some form of treatment to help them with their issue. Part of the problem is the fact that about 12% of the general population believes that eating disorders like Anorexia Nervosa are actually attributed to vanity. When someone needs help and the person they ask to help thinks that there isn’t a true mental disorder going on, the end result can be a lot more damaging than just trying to self-treat anorexic thoughts.
8. Men with same sex attractions are twice as likely to suffer from anorexic thinking patterns.
If men who have same sex attractions are separated from the general population of men, they are twice as likely to suffer from Anorexia Nervosa. The problems don’t just stop with thinking patterns in this population demographic either because these men don’t seek out help either. The perception that men should be “man enough” to conquer something like this prevents professional treatment from occurring. The statistics are even worse when all teenage boys are considered. 33% of teen boys admit to using unhealthy steps to manage their weight.
How can we stop Anorexia Nervosa? A good place to start would be within the media influences that everyone has exposure to on a daily basis. Nearly 70% of girls who are 18 or younger say that their ideal body image is influenced by the pictures they see online, in magazines, or in celebrity images. They begin working toward this body shape, get complimented for the first few pounds that they lose, and this reinforces the need to lose weight.
People are beautiful in many different ways. Outward beauty is just one of them. Reinforce this fact with those close to you, keep these facts in mind, and Anorexia Nervosa doesn’t have to keep causing more statistics.