Check out this personal post from Gymhopper over at Buns of Steal.
It's a fitness/gym blogger's post on why she won't be documenting her weight gain/loss as part of her "year of free fitness" experiment.
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Downward Dog Fights Eating Disorders
Yoga for teens could be more than a spiritual and physical boost—a new randomized controlled trial suggests that it may help those with anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders.
The study included 50 adolescents aged 11-16, the vast majority of whom were girls. They were seriously ill. Nearly half had previously been hospitalized because of their eating disorder—at the time of the study, they were being treated at an outpatient clinic at Seattle Children's hospital.
55% were suffering from anorexia, 17% had bulimia and the rest had been diagnosed with “eating disorder-not otherwise specified,” a condition in which people have some, but not all of the symptoms of anorexia or bulimia or both.
The study was led by T. Rain Carei Ph.D. of Seattle Children's Hospital and published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Teens were randomized to receive either usual treatment at the clinic—or that treatment plus two hours a week of yoga classes, conducted by an instructor certified in Viniyoga by the Yoga Alliance. The study period lasted eight weeks.
While controls showed improvement on tests of eating disordered behaviors and thinking during treatment, these had fallen back to their previous levels when they were followed up a month afterwards.
But in the yoga, while improvement started slowly, a month later, these teens were doing much better than they had been at the start of treatment and had lower scores on these measures as a result. Yoga had no effect on weight, which was reassuring because underweight subjects needed to gain to recover and weight loss could cause more harm.
The researchers suspect that yoga may help by reducing the obsessive concern about weight associated with eating disorders. They write, “Food preoccupation may be reduced by focusing attention on yoga poses.” Some subjects even expressed this idea directly to the researchers, saying “This is the only hour in my week when I don't think about my weight."
If a larger study confirms these findings, a prescription for the child's pose and others could be in the future for teens with eating disorders.
The study included 50 adolescents aged 11-16, the vast majority of whom were girls. They were seriously ill. Nearly half had previously been hospitalized because of their eating disorder—at the time of the study, they were being treated at an outpatient clinic at Seattle Children's hospital.
55% were suffering from anorexia, 17% had bulimia and the rest had been diagnosed with “eating disorder-not otherwise specified,” a condition in which people have some, but not all of the symptoms of anorexia or bulimia or both.
The study was led by T. Rain Carei Ph.D. of Seattle Children's Hospital and published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Teens were randomized to receive either usual treatment at the clinic—or that treatment plus two hours a week of yoga classes, conducted by an instructor certified in Viniyoga by the Yoga Alliance. The study period lasted eight weeks.
While controls showed improvement on tests of eating disordered behaviors and thinking during treatment, these had fallen back to their previous levels when they were followed up a month afterwards.
But in the yoga, while improvement started slowly, a month later, these teens were doing much better than they had been at the start of treatment and had lower scores on these measures as a result. Yoga had no effect on weight, which was reassuring because underweight subjects needed to gain to recover and weight loss could cause more harm.
The researchers suspect that yoga may help by reducing the obsessive concern about weight associated with eating disorders. They write, “Food preoccupation may be reduced by focusing attention on yoga poses.” Some subjects even expressed this idea directly to the researchers, saying “This is the only hour in my week when I don't think about my weight."
If a larger study confirms these findings, a prescription for the child's pose and others could be in the future for teens with eating disorders.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Emerging Eating Disorder: Exercise Bulimia
A little-known form of the eating disorder bulimia is getting more and more attention from medical professionals -- exercise bulimia.
As CBSNews.com's Cali Carlin reported on "The Early Show Saturday Edition," people with the disorder can't stop themselves from working out excessively and compulsively, with potentially serious health consequences.
This "startling" form of bulimia is of particular concern, Carlin says, because it happens in plain sight and doesn't involve the hidden vomiting-to-purge-calories marking the form of bulimia more people are familiar with, making exercise bulimia hard to recognize, and insidious.
In addition, she points out, eating disorders in general have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.
Carlin spoke with Robyn Yamanaka who is, ironically, a professional trainer.
Yamanaka told Carlin her exercise bulimia "started off innocently, (with workouts) maybe like three or four times a week. ... (But) it got to a point where I was working out three hours a day, if not more. ... I didn't take a day off for about 6 years. ... I have more health problems than someone who is overweight because I was underweight."
Dr. Maryanne Rosenthal, clinical director at Casa Palmera, an in-patient treatment center in San Diego says, "I think(exercise bulimia) is becoming epidemic. ... An exercise bulimic is focused on the ritual of exercising, and that is that method of purging.... People think they get a pass because they're not vomiting, they're not taking laxatives, so (they think) they're not really purging. ... It's very hard to diagnose, because exercise is great right?"
Health woes spurred by exercise bulimia can include fatigue,reproductive problems, depression and anxiety, Rosenthal observes.
Yamanaka, says Carlin, was "exercising herself to death. Her bones had weakened to the equivalent of a 65-year-old female. She suffered from osteoporosis, a stress fracture and lost her period for eight years."
Rosenthal calls exercise bulimia "an addiction and, when people are really heavily into their addictions, they can't stop without help."
Yamanaka tearfully told Carlin that her parents forced her to get treatment, and says she's recovering and even back on the job.
"Im really lucky," she observes.
Best-selling author and dieting expert Dr. Ian Smith told "Early Show Saturday Edition" co-anchor Erica Hill signs someone you know may be an exercise bulimic include that person missing work, parties or other important appointments to work out, not taking a break from working out for days at a time, working out for hours at a time each day, working out while injured or sick, or becoming severely depressed when not being able to work out.
Smith, who's also the medical and diet expert on VH1's highly-rated "Celebrity Fit Club," said to CBS News you should approach someone you're concerned about with caution: "Discuss with them the amount of time they're spending on working out relative to where they are with the goals they want to achieve from working out. Most of these people are already low in fat and within the healthy weight range. Try to bring it to their attention that they have had great success and results from working out. The quantity of time they're spending is out of proportion to what they need to maintain their results. Suggest they see a therapist who can help them sort out what's going on.
"Softly discuss what they may be neglecting so that they can work out. Try to get them to see that they are allowing exercise to disproportionately occupy time and space in their life. Maybe they are suffering some of the consequences of exercising too much (fatigue, dehydration, osteoporosis, arthritis, reproductive problems, injuries such as stress fractures, strains, and sprains), and pointing these consequences out may help them see what they're doing."
Smith noted that, "Unlike (with) classic bulimia, exercise bulimia is almost just as common in men as it is in women. Exercise bulimia is not about the person wanting to improve their health or train for a specific event. They exercise for the sake of exercise."
If someone resists getting help or receiving consul, Smith said, "There's not much you can do, unless they are a minor. This is not a condition where you can commit someone to a psychiatric clinic or make them go get help. The best thing to do at that point is to be as supportive as possible and encourage rather than mandate they seek at least some counsel."
As CBSNews.com's Cali Carlin reported on "The Early Show Saturday Edition," people with the disorder can't stop themselves from working out excessively and compulsively, with potentially serious health consequences.
This "startling" form of bulimia is of particular concern, Carlin says, because it happens in plain sight and doesn't involve the hidden vomiting-to-purge-calories marking the form of bulimia more people are familiar with, making exercise bulimia hard to recognize, and insidious.
In addition, she points out, eating disorders in general have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.
Carlin spoke with Robyn Yamanaka who is, ironically, a professional trainer.
Yamanaka told Carlin her exercise bulimia "started off innocently, (with workouts) maybe like three or four times a week. ... (But) it got to a point where I was working out three hours a day, if not more. ... I didn't take a day off for about 6 years. ... I have more health problems than someone who is overweight because I was underweight."
Dr. Maryanne Rosenthal, clinical director at Casa Palmera, an in-patient treatment center in San Diego says, "I think(exercise bulimia) is becoming epidemic. ... An exercise bulimic is focused on the ritual of exercising, and that is that method of purging.... People think they get a pass because they're not vomiting, they're not taking laxatives, so (they think) they're not really purging. ... It's very hard to diagnose, because exercise is great right?"
Health woes spurred by exercise bulimia can include fatigue,reproductive problems, depression and anxiety, Rosenthal observes.
Yamanaka, says Carlin, was "exercising herself to death. Her bones had weakened to the equivalent of a 65-year-old female. She suffered from osteoporosis, a stress fracture and lost her period for eight years."
Rosenthal calls exercise bulimia "an addiction and, when people are really heavily into their addictions, they can't stop without help."
Yamanaka tearfully told Carlin that her parents forced her to get treatment, and says she's recovering and even back on the job.
"Im really lucky," she observes.
Best-selling author and dieting expert Dr. Ian Smith told "Early Show Saturday Edition" co-anchor Erica Hill signs someone you know may be an exercise bulimic include that person missing work, parties or other important appointments to work out, not taking a break from working out for days at a time, working out for hours at a time each day, working out while injured or sick, or becoming severely depressed when not being able to work out.
Smith, who's also the medical and diet expert on VH1's highly-rated "Celebrity Fit Club," said to CBS News you should approach someone you're concerned about with caution: "Discuss with them the amount of time they're spending on working out relative to where they are with the goals they want to achieve from working out. Most of these people are already low in fat and within the healthy weight range. Try to bring it to their attention that they have had great success and results from working out. The quantity of time they're spending is out of proportion to what they need to maintain their results. Suggest they see a therapist who can help them sort out what's going on.
"Softly discuss what they may be neglecting so that they can work out. Try to get them to see that they are allowing exercise to disproportionately occupy time and space in their life. Maybe they are suffering some of the consequences of exercising too much (fatigue, dehydration, osteoporosis, arthritis, reproductive problems, injuries such as stress fractures, strains, and sprains), and pointing these consequences out may help them see what they're doing."
Smith noted that, "Unlike (with) classic bulimia, exercise bulimia is almost just as common in men as it is in women. Exercise bulimia is not about the person wanting to improve their health or train for a specific event. They exercise for the sake of exercise."
If someone resists getting help or receiving consul, Smith said, "There's not much you can do, unless they are a minor. This is not a condition where you can commit someone to a psychiatric clinic or make them go get help. The best thing to do at that point is to be as supportive as possible and encourage rather than mandate they seek at least some counsel."
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