Spring Break is Coming! Is your guy Manorexic?

The BACCHUS Network™ is a university and community based network focusing on health and safety issues for young adults. With Spring Break coming soon, we are asked to observe National Collegiate Health and Wellness Week. The Washington Post shares an interesting story (doing a lot of that lately!) about Manorexia, a term coined by actor Dennis Quaid to describe his ordeal with anorexia after losing weight for his role in the film Wyatt Earp. Results of a Harvard University Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Program at McLean Hospital study indicate that males suffer from eating disorders, too.

Thanks to this important study, we now know that one-fourth of American adults who suffer from anorexia and bulimia are male, and 40% of binge eaters are men. Young boys and men are now feeling the same pressures females have felt to achieve physical perfection and most want those elusive "six pack abs". Because we tend to associate anorexia with young females, the biggest roadblock for males is getting taken seriously. Family history of eating disorders predisposes males to the problem. Eating disorders are a classic mind-body problem.

Dr. Arnold E. Anderson, author of Males with Eating Disorders and Director of the University of Iowa Eating Disorders Program reports that men tend to suffer in silence with the disorders because it is considered a women's problem. All people who have eating disorders, however, tend to have low self-esteem, anxiety, depression or other psychiatric problems. Finally, anorexia or loss of appetite is a hallmark symptom of Major Depression. If a boy or man you know shows signs of eating disorders, break the silence and help him get help.

Thanks Veronica Lola for her photo, Skinny Boy.