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Eating disorders are amazingly one of the most common causes of hospitalizations and deaths in teens and young adult across the United States and Canada. But what causes these eating disorders in the first place. Well the fact is there is no one way to get an eating disorder. They can be triggered by many things in a person’s life. Especially during the years of high school teenagers become v  ery critical of themselves and the way they look. Most of the time this can be set off by what another student or peer might say to them, even their own parents. It is truly amazing how judgmental someone can be just about your looks. Honestly, most of the time it is quite sickening.

Girls especially are at risk for obtaining an eating disorder because they tend to want to fit in and please everyone. Have you ever heard a parent say something incredibly negative about their own child, isn’t a parents love supposed to be unconditional and unchangeable no matter what their child looks like. Well believe it or not there are mothers out there especially who push their daughters to be thin. There are many reasons for this, but one man factor is because the mother wants her daughter to “fit in” and be “popular”. So why are we trying so hard to fit in when we were all born different people so that we could stand out and be who we were meant to be, just ourselves. Girls constantly weighing themselves to manage their weight when they are already thin as a rail, is dangerous and a dangerous obsession. Girls push themselves to be thin to please other people. This is how eating disorders happen.

The constant push and pressure felt from peers, parents and themselves as well. Anorexia, is a type of eating disorder where a person basically starves themselves to lose weight, they might also do things like take laxatives or diet pills to assist in losing weight. They may only drink water or small amounts of food in a week. Bulimia is another type of eating disorder in which people who have it “binge eat” or consume large amounts of food in a small given period of time and then either force themselves to throw up or use pills or other methods to get the weight off. It gives them the satisfaction of having eaten something without taking in all the carbohydrates and calories so that they can’t gain weight. Both eating disorders are equally dangerous and life threatening. People with the diseases don’t realize what they are doing to themselves until it is too late, sometimes they don’t ever realize it. They see themselves in a different “light”. For example a girl who weighs just one hundred pounds may see herself double that size and then some more weight, she may view herself as a hefty two hundred and thirty pound teenager. They also see themselves as ugly and a shame to their families because they think they are truly “fat and ugly”, when in reality they are a normal, beautiful young girl.

Pressure on the Field Every place across the world one can find just about any sport that you could imagine or dream up. Athletes live to play “their” sport, but when does it all just become too much handle. Every day we hear stories about teens that cracked under the pressure. The pressure of peers, coaches and even their own parents, they struggle to be better to please everyone else around them. Not only do sports take effect on a person physically but mentally as well as emotionally. So, where can we draw the line? Is it with the parents or with the coaches? In an anonymous survey done by Hopewell Valley High School students nearly all of the respondents said that school affects them mostly in the areas of sleep and school. Aren’t these two of the most important things in a teenager’s life? There were also high marks on social life and not having enough free time.

Did you know the   re are students involved with up to five sports during one single year? When does that individual have time to just be a teenager, hardly ever obviously? What about physical impact on the student, have you ever noticed how many people walk around the high school with casts or crutches? Or that nearly all of those people are athletes, and that injury happened during a game or practice? Students are sacrificing their bodies for the love of a sport, and sometimes not even their love of that particular sport. Have you ever noticed those over obsessed football dads who are pushing their son to play football and play it like a professional when they don’t even like it? Or those mothers who decided at the age of three that she wanted her daughter to be a ballet dancer, and never let their child make their own decisions. What about a coach who just pushes their team too far and too much? Do we see the affect this takes on the students mentally?

Athletes can fall into the hands of things such as steroids when they are pushed too hard to be better in every aspect of the sport that they play. They also fall victim to alcohol and drugs all because of the pressure from the environment that they are in. Why do we feel the need to start our children off so young in a sport as well? And if they decide they don’t want to participate in that sports anymore why do half of the time the parents still push them? Do they not see the affect that this takes on their child? Do they care? We see stories of teens who even die because they were pushed too hard by a parent or by a coach. Athletes go as far as starving themselves to be better at what they do. Look at dancers, or gymnast’s even wrestlers. If they don’t meet the “cut” in weight then they aren’t allowed to participate. This is very dangerous because it can set in eating disorders especially in young women these disorders if they are not treated promptly and properly can lead to serious illness, hospitalization and even death. They will do anything it takes to be better, even if it means risking their own health and life.

So where can we stop this madness? Do we find coaches that don’t push or parents that don’t pressure? Should we limit the amount of seasons an athlete is allowed to play in schools, especially high schools to reduce the risk? Or do we take it straight to the athletes and see why exactly they feel the need to go as far as they do. Where are the warning signs so we can prevent some of these issues from happening to future teenage athletes? The answer is, athletes need to know their limitations and that they should only participate in something that they truly love doing, they shouldn’t just do it because their parents or peers push them into doing it. Otherwise their hearts not in it and that is where they will end up getting hurt in one way or another. Mental stress is one of the worst things that you can do to a teenager, believe it or not teens are stressed out enough these days with just school alone, the very last thing that they need is to by playing a sport that just stresses them out even more, or something even worse takes them to a very early grave.

Sammy's Story I think and look back at all the people in which I have known in my life. Mental issues are one of the most horrible things that can happen to a person if you ask me. It takes over you and controls every aspect of your life. And there isn’t a thing in the world that you can do about it the majority of the time. They are stressful and hurtful and ruin your life. After a mental disorder you won’t ever be the same person again.

I personally knew a girl who something like this happened to. She thought that she couldn’t and wouldn’t ever make her family satisfied with who she was. This girl had dark secrets. The secret of suicidal thoughts running through her mind and she couldn’t control them. This girl was an outstanding student, and seemed generally happy, she had a new boyfriend but something in her mind just wasn’t “ticking” right. She seemed to have everything but at the same time, nothing. I don’t believe you are ever cured from a disease like that, I think you always take a piece of it with you and carry it in the palm of your hand. You aren’t ever the same person again that you were before. I have seen girls with scars on their arms because that was their way of releasing the pain that they were in, by self mutilation or cutting themselves. It’s a horrible thing that takes over and controls you. And every day after you are “supposedly “treated and cured” you live your life in that those thoughts may start running through your mind again and the cycle will begin once again.

I think it’s time to break the silence about all mental disorders. We all know that they exist, but is it something that a person should be ashamed to have? I think not, especially when they cannot control the fact that they ever got it in the first place. Its scary for the person that its happening to as well as the people around them. Eating disorders, and suicidal thoughts are two of the most damaging and known mental diseases. They can be linked to many parts of a persons life, childhood, relationships, pressure from school and parents. This is among many other things in life.

Not many parents believe it today but school is very stressful for teens between peer pressure and trying to fit in. To keeping grades reasonable and participating in sports and other after school activities. At school, where do these victims of mental illness turn for help? Do they confide in friends to help them out or do they find a teacher who they feel they are close with that they can talk to easily about their problems, certain problems which they may not want the entire world to find out about. Mental illness is among the highest death rate in teenagers, suicide rates have raised so does that mean that the pressure of a teenager’s life has risen as well? Believe it or not they have, in today’s world teens are being pushed to do things they may not want to do and that can be very stressful.

We are being pushed to make the best out of what we have and also to get jobs, play sports, do afterschool activities and all at the same time get good grades in school and actually have some kind of personal and social life. Next time before you judge take a look around and think about if you were them and they were saying things to you how would you feel? And then make your decision about what is right and what’s wrong in your own life, and don’t judge people by looks or social stature.

Have you ever wanted to be just like someone else? Do you want to be a wannarexic? They are girls who strive to have an eating disorder.By having this and loosing weight girls think that it will make them more popular. What they dont realize is its disease, and not by choice. Its like a request for death from wanting to be popular. This article shows how far some girls will go in order to be popular.  [|Eating Disorder Blog]