Does Body Chemistry Determine Eating Disorders?
... form of genetic depression but this report will prove that a greater percentage of the problem is caused by environmental conflicts. Conflicts within the family are often one of the causes of eating disorders. Anorexia is sometimes the result of a strict and over-protective family, while a lack of interest from parents can contribute to bulimia. Sometimes people develop eating disorders because they have been sexually abused (Whelan 44-45). Eating Disorders are an everyday problem in America for both male and females. It is estimated that more than 8 million people in the United States suffer from eating disorders. More than 90 percent of them are female. Recent research shows that 1 in about 400 males between the ages of thirteen and thirty has an eating disorder ( also known as compulsive eating). Compulsive exercise is also a growing problem. It is identified as a related disorder problem by health professionals and eating disorder experts (Bury 6-7). Eating disorders may piggy back other disorders thus causing irregular weight gain. There may also be a relationship between leptin (eating hormones) and sleep. Sleep deprivation seems to reduce leptin which signals to the body that it is underfed. This faulty cue over along period of time might result in your metabolism slowing down, an increase in your fat deposits, and a increase in your appetite. Leptin rises at night, as does melatonin (sleep hormone), and tends to keep your hunger under control while you are sleeping. A pheromone study of Night Eating Syndrome found that leptin did not rise in night eaters as it does in most people (Birketvedt et al. 1999) One of the great obsessions of the western world is its need to be like the movie stars or better explained, to be thin. The image of the body has dictated that to be thin is to be in. Beauty has be defined as having a curvy body with slim...