Chapter 21: Addictive and Unhealthy Behaviours Flashcards
What are some unhealthy behaviours that can occur in sport?
Doping, substance abuse, eating disorders, and illegal gambling
What are the characteristics of anorexia nervosa (clinical definition)?
Weight loss to 15% below normal
Intense fear of gaining weight or being fat, despite being underweight
Disturbance in one’s experience of body weight, size, and shape
In females, the absence of at least three consecutive expected menstrual cycles
Often exercise excessively in combination with decreased eating
What are the effects of anorexia nervosa?
Potentially deadly, with a mortality rate of 5%, the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric condition.
Can lead to starvation and other medical complications such as heart disease.
Heart disease and suicide most common causes of death.
The suicide risk of those affected is 50% higher than that of the general population.
Affected people don’t see themselves as abnormal - proud of their control and afraid of people trying to change their behaviours
What are the ten red flags that indicate anorexia nervosa?
Brittle, dry and thinning hair
Teary eyes
Yellow skin
Severe muscle tension
Hypotension tachycardia
Amenorrhea
Halitosis
Abdominal distension
Persistent movements of fingers or toes
Continuous weight loss
Bulimia
Episodic eating pattern of uncontrollable food binging followed by purging and is characterized by an awareness that the pattern is abnormal, fear of being unable to stop eating voluntarily, depressed mood, and self-deprecation.
What are the characteristics of bulimia?
Recurrent binge eating
A sense of lacking control over-eating behaviour during the binges
Engaging in regular self-induced vomiting, use of laxatives or diuretics, strict dieting or fasting, or vigorous exercise in order to prevent weight gain
Average minimum of two binge-eating episodes a week for three months
Persistent over-concern with body shape and weight
Physical effects include stomach/bowel issues, digestive issues, throat issues, mouth issues, etc.
What are the effects of bulimia?
Condition is severe, but less severe than anorexia
Bulimia can lead to anorexia
Bulimic people are aware that they have a problem
Disordered Eating (Sub-clinical)
Disordered eating covers a spectrum of exaggerated eating patterns involving increased health risks.
The extremes of disordered eating are anorexia and bulimia.
It is difficult to distinguish athletes with an eating disorder from those who have many of the psychological symptoms of an eating disorder but not official diagnosis of an eating disorder.
Eating disorders are often seen as female affliction, but males may also experience disordered eating.
Anorexia Athletica (EDNOS)
Type of disordered eating
Fear of obesity therefore using exercise and unhealthy eating habits to avoid gaining weight.
Reduced health, dysfunctional social interaction, decreased performance.
Stepping stone to bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa.
Orthorexia (EDNOS)
Type of disordered eating
Unhealthy focus on health eating.
Negative impact on overall well-being because so consumed in thoughts about healthy eating (becoming compulsive in everything that you eat)
The Female Triad (EDNOS)
Type of disordered eating
Disordered eating, menstrual dysfunction, and low bone mineral density (can lead to osteoporosis).
Sports that encourage thinness and low body weight at risk the most.
Muscle Dysmorphia (EDNOS)
Type of disordered eating
Most affect men, but not always
The idea that they are insufficient muscular
Never good enough
Compulsive lifting, training, dieting, supplements, etc.
Leads to use of steroids
Can affect mood, self-esteem, leads to social physique anxiety, etc.
Prevalence of eating disorders and disordered eating in sport
Accurate assessment is difficult to achieve for a variety of reasons:
1) Fear of being dropped from program.
2) Questionable accuracy of studies (assessment problem) so data must be viewed with caution
What has research found on the prevalence of eating disorders in sport?
Frequency of eating disorders in athletes range from as low as 1% to as high as 62% across a variety of sports.
Athletes appear to have a greater occurrence of eating-related problems (disordered eating) than does the general population.
Athletes and non-athletes have similar eating-related symptoms.
A significant percentage of athletes engage in pathogenic eating or weight loss behaviours, although the behaviours are subclinical in intensity.
Eating disorders and pathogenic weight loss techniques tend to have a sport-specific prevalence.
Female athletes in general report higher rates of eating disorders than male athletes, which is similar to rates for the general population.
Compared with non-athletes, it is primarily athletes in “thin build” sports that emphasize leanness who are at greater risk of developing eating disorders.
Up to 66% of female athletes may be amenorrheic as compared to 2-5% of non-athletes.
Although anorexia and bulimia are of special concern in sports emphasizing form or weight, athletes with eating disorders have been found in a variety of sports.
About 63% of all female athletes develop symptoms of an eating disorder between the 9th and 12th grades.
What are the health consequences that accompany pathogenic weight control behaviours?
Diet pills - rapid heart rate, poor concentration, insomnia, dehydration
Diuretics - electrolyte imbalance, little fat loss, weight loss quickly regained
Excessive exercise - menstrual dysfunction, fatigue, overuse injuries, hunger
Fasting/starvation - loss of lean body mass and bone density, poor physical and cognitive performance, poor nutrition
Fat-free diets - difficulty of maintain weight loss, lack of essential vitamins, nutrients, and fatty acids
Laxatives/enemas - dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, constipation
Saunas - dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, no permanent weight loss
Self-induced vomiting - dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, gastrointestinal problems, stomach ulcers, erosion of tooth enamel
