When Boys Get Too Much Exercise (Really)
Submitted by Boys and Schools Blog
I have never struggled with an eating disorder. I do struggle with lack of self-control regarding junk food and delicious snacks, but that’s neither here nor there. I have, however, seen quite a few after-school specials, Lifetime movies, and MTV documentaries about people with eating disoders, and if I have learned one thing from the Very Special Episode about Emily’s secret (other than the fact that the star of the school football team is turned off by bulimia), it’s that one of the difficulties for people in the beginnign stages of anorexia is that they tend to get very positive feedback initially regarding their change of appearance–which only serves to aggravate the problem.
Fume all you want about media, the Beauty Myth, impossible standards, Barbie, models, and so on, but you have to acknowledge that in a very visual, media-saturated culture, we have established very specific body types as desirable. And our obsession with health and the body means that we treat those who exercise regularly, eat well, and look good as special, enviable, desirable, etc. All of which makes the eating disorders which affect boys even harder to spot.
Not to make light of anorexia, but when someone doesn’t eat, at least at some point it becomes obvious that there’s a problem. Boys, however, are more likely to develop athletica nervosa (it’s a newly recognized condition) in pursuit of their ideal body. Since athletica nervosa is essentially a compulsion to exercise excessively, it’s especially hard to spot, since what considered an appropriate amount of exercise necessarily changes from person to person. And adolescent boys do almost nothing but move around all day. And, as a society, we encourage exercise–fitness is more or less a secular virtue in modern America.
The key to identifying athletica nervosa (which can also include uses of steroids and supplements) lies in ferreting out at what point interest becomes compulsion. Generally speaking, several workouts a day (every day) is a sign for most people (with the exception of the professional athletes of course) of compulsive over-exercise. Taking a look at the motivations involved and the body image of the boy in question could also help identify if there’s a problem. You know, we’ve been going on for years about how media images and messages could hurt the body image and esteem of young girls–why did we think that boys would be immune?
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
Leave a Reply
