Anorexia is an eating disorder that inflicts many young people, including runners. Because of the close association that low weight and losing weight has with running many runners suffer from the disease to varying degrees. While often considered a disease that inflicts mainly females in the general population, both male and female runners are affected because both sexes face pressure to lose weight. Role models for both sexes are extremely skinny and, therefore, both sexes associate being skinny with better performance.

Effect of an Eating Disorder on Runners

A troubling aspect of eating disorders for runners is that often, in the early stages, an eating disorder or the precursor to one will actually help a runner run faster. The fact is that carrying around less weight can mean faster times. Unfortunately, if this low weight is maintained in an unhealthy way it will eventually catch up to the runner and their traininng will stagnate.

At best mild anorexia and other eating disorders causes overtraining, as the body is unable to repair itself adequately from the stresses of running, and, at worst, it can be life threatening. The bottomline is that maintaining weight by starving oneself will not result in better times.

External Links

• Anorexia Resource (http://www.anred.com/)
• Eating Disorders in Elite British Female Runners (http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0992.htm)
• Coach's Guide to Anorexia (http://www.edauk.com/sport/coach.htm)