A new trend is spreading like wildfire among teenagers: fasting all day and then bingeing on alcohol in the evening, when going out with friends.
“Drunkorexia”, as the experts call it, combines two typical needs of the age: the obsession with thinness and the pursuit of recklessness. Thus two of the most worrying phenomena for the new generations are mutually reinforcing: anorexia and the tendency to drink alcohol for the sole purpose of getting drunk.
Two in one
The term “drunkorexia” was coined in the United States, where the epidemic is currently arousing the greatest alarm (it affects 30 percent of women between 18 and 24 years of age).
Many girls avoid eating for the whole day – limiting themselves to drinking water, coffee, and smoking cigarettes – in order to be able to concentrate their caloric intake in the evening hours: a few appetizers at the happy hour buffet, but above all beer and spirits.
The “advantage” (from the point of view of the girls) is that the drunkenness, with the consequent disinhibiting effect, comes sooner.
“Such behavior is very risky in terms of health and social behavior” warns Maria Cristina Campanini, a Milanese doctor specializing in nutrition problems.
«Starting from the fact that alcohol, taken on an empty stomach, is rapidly absorbed, causing a drop in attention and concentration, which makes continuous journeys on a motorbike dangerous».
Alcohol: greater risks for women
In recent decades, also due to greater contacts with peers from Northern Europe (where the habit of evening and nighttime hangovers had already been widespread for some time), Italian teenagers have embraced the tendency to “binge drinking”, i.e. getting drunk (“binge” means “binge”) on the occasion of evenings, parties, disco outings.
In alcohol, the socializing, euphoric and disinhibiting effects are sought, precisely those which in the long run lead to abuse.
In Italy, in the space of a few years, we have thus witnessed a marked increase in the consumption of alcohol in the age group ranging from 14 to 16 years, especially among girls.
A not negligible fact, given that the toxic effects of alcohol are greater in women than in men: the concentration of alcohol dehydrognase, the enzyme that metabolises alcohol, is in fact about half, with the consequence that, on equal of consumption, the toxicity is double compared to males.
More and more dissatisfied with his physique
Equally worrying is the greater diffusion of eating disorders: some surveys show that about 85% of adolescents are on a diet or in any case not happy with their physical shape.
Anorexia begins precisely with the fear of being fat (almost always it starts from a real, mostly slight, overweight) and the consequent adoption of a strict diet, sometimes accompanied by physical exercise (girls undergo grueling exercises in the gym).
The diet works: success improves self-esteem and gives a feeling of power and control, triggering a death trap.
In other words, thinness is pursued not so much as a synonym of beauty as of autonomy, self-control, independence.
At the same time, the body releases amphetamine-like substances, which give a feeling of efficiency and mastery of the situation.
Furthermore, thinness causes a sort of perceptive anesthesia that makes you invulnerable to emotions, increasing the feeling of control.
In the meantime, physical disturbances set in: menstruation disappears, the heart rate slows down, hypotension, osteoporosis , hair loss occur and fine hair spreads over the whole body.
Statistics indicate that the chances of recovery from anorexia are not very high: only 30 percent manage to reach a normal weight and resume having a regular menstrual cycle.
35 maintain their distorted view of body image, 25 become chronic anorexic and 10 dies due to cachexia or suicide.
It is prevented in the family
It is important for parents to talk to children about alcohol and the risks involved before they reach adolescence, around the ages of 9 and 10.
Doing it later, especially if with aggressive or prohibitive attitudes, could have the opposite effect, that is to entice them to abuse.
It is also necessary to prevent children from starting to drink very early. Starting before the age of 15 has been shown to increase the risk of alcoholism 4-fold.
A good example is fundamental, in food practices and lifestyle habits, especially if the time spent with the children is limited. It is also necessary to supervise in conjunction with risky situations. Worrying, for example, if a boy (or girl) changes company, has a decline in academic performance, has frequent mood swings, changes his physical appearance or character, adopts impatient or aggressive behavior.
If you lose control of the situation, do not hesitate to resort to external help, starting from the family doctor to psychotherapists and centers specialized in eating disorders.
Joycelyn Elders is the author and creator of EmpowerEssence, a health and wellness blog. Elders is a respected public health advocate and pediatrician dedicated to promoting general health and well-being.
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