Summer is here and with it comes the vacations, the beach, the heat, the swimming pool and the bathing suits. It is a time awaited by many and feared by others, so much so that about half of the Spanish population admits to have started a diet in the moments leading up to the summer season. According to Acierto.com, 6.5% are worried about the calories they consume every day. On the other hand, 54% try to have a healthy and balanced diet, and finally, a worrying 7.5% count in detail the calories their body consumes.
A time of eating disorders
Data provided by Acierto.com show that the number of eating disorders during the summer is between 20% and 25%. Anorexia and bulimia top this ranking. Before going on to talk about these problems, it is necessary to understand the meaning of eating disorders. Dr. José Casas Rivero offers an explanation through this article: “eating disorders is a disease that is characterized fundamentally by a very intense fear of gaining weight or being fat and that patients behave with special characteristics, restricting food with the aim of losing weight to feel better”.
At the same time, the doctor recognizes the difficulty of knowing the reason or causes for their appearance, but includes as risk factors the start of a diet or adolescence. As for the age at which anorexia and bulimia manifest themselves, he highlights two. The first one is between 12 and 14 years of age, and another possible age of onset of these problems is between 19 and 20 years of age. That said, the doctor does not rule out that the symptoms can appear in any other person without depending on their age.
Anorexia: the denial of the problem
The great problem of anorexia is the denial of the disorder, as explained in the following article by Dr. Mª José Moreno Magaña, who also points out that the denial of the problem leads to a lack of help and causes physical and psychological damage that can become very serious if not intercepted in time.
This same doctor agrees with the previous specialist in indicating that the propitious age in which this type of disorder arises is adolescence. The doctor herself indicates that: “Insecurities and complexes emerge and it is at this stage when the adolescent compares his or her image with the aesthetic body model socially fixed as perfect”.
Bulimia: different symptoms with the same ending
On the other hand, according to Dr. Julia Vidal Fernández, bulimia has very harmful consequences for the person who suffers from it. Some of them can be irreversible and seriously damage the affected person, such as tooth decay, esophageal damage, digestive disorders, peptic ulcers and hormonal irregularities. Some of its symptoms may be emotional, behavioral, aesthetic concern for the body, sudden changes in weight, changes in appearance in terms of clothing and changes in behavior for no apparent reason.