Medicine and Adrenaline

Medicine and Adrenaline Joy Confidence Peace

By Janani Venkat Easwar, Hannah Senior, Olivia Maas, and Alanna D’Cruz EZine Fall 2021

Table of Contents pg. 6

Letter from the Editors

Getting Ready to Score on the Patriarchy

pg. 8

Olivia Maas

Gender in Pro Sports Olivia Maas

pg. 1 0 pg. 1 2

Sports: Yay or Nay?

Most Popular Sports Played by LASA Students Hannah Senior

pg. 1 4

Hannah Senior

Table of Contents pg. 1 6

Head Health Janani V. E.

How’s Your Mental Health Today?

Janani V. E.

pg. 2

The Kind of Thing that Eats Away at You

pg. 2 4

Effects of Eating Disorders on the Body Alanna D’Cruz

pg. 2 8

Alanna D’Cruz

Letter from the Editors Hello Dear Readers,

We are the group that made this totally superior magazine about sports and health. Creating this magazine was a fun and stressful experience, but mostly stressful because the only person who gets things done around here is Janani (Thank you Janani. WE LOVE YOU!). Then there’s the rest of the group: Alanna, Olivia, and Hannah. We get our work done.

Barely. We’re the queens of procrastination.

Anyways, our magazine will feature four amazing articles on health and fitness. Olivia’s will highlight a womens football team and gender equality in football. Janani’s article will focus on mental health issues and solutions. Hannah’s will have an overview on how sports affect our health. And finally, Alanna’s article will be on eating disorders and the damage it does to our bodies. We hope you enjoy our magazine!

From, Hannah Senior, Olivia Maas, Janani Venkat Easwar, and Alanna D’Cruz

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Meet the Editors Alanna D’ Cruz Alanna is a freshman who plays volleyball, cries over assignments, obssesively checks her grades, and is always being mugged for her fruit gummies.

Olivia Maas Olivia is a freshman who plays both volleyball and soccer, plays the trumpet, gets no work done, and finds pleasure in raiding the vending machines.

She also can’t seem to write her signature with a computer mouse.

Janani Venkat Easwar Janani is a freshman who plays the viola, is writing a book (229 pages so far!), LOVES to read, and engages herself in many types of arts and music.

Hannah Senior Hannah is a freshman who plays soccer, plays the guitar, is a gremlin (according to Olivia), and loves to bother poeple for food (like she will get REALLYY annoying).

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Getting Ready to Score on the Patriarchy Women’s gridiron football is gaining popularity

By Olivia Maas

Kaila Dunn has been playing football since she was a kid, from playing flag with her dad and brother to peewee leagues. When she got to high school, the coach told her she couldn’t play on the team. “At the time, I had a boyfriend and he was like, ‘No coach, she can really play,’” she recalls. Others on the team agreed. Even the coach saw Dunn could play well, but “I guess he was being protective of me...” she says.

As most of us know, football is a big deal in the US and an even bigger deal in Texas. The National Football League (NFL) draws a major fanbase from all over. Sunday night football and the Super Bowl, are popular amongst many. However, for such a popular industry, most NFL teams have little to no female represen-

8

tation. There is a lack of women in all football operations, including coaching, player negotiations, scouting, and players.

Football is a physically demanding sport, requiring a combination of size, speed, and power. Harmful gender stereo-

“ We‘re trying t o move the world and shake it up a little bit. “ types pressurize that these traits are only found in men. This is definitely untrue, and women gaining more accessibility to the sport would help combat these negative assumptions. There is also no excuse for the lack of

women in coaching and personnel decisions in the league, as many have the same or more qualifications than the men in those positions.

Of the 32 NFL teams, only seven have women on their coaching staff. Just 12 women across the entire league and five of those are technically interns. NFL teams have around 15 assistant coaches, which means around 2.5% are women. There are no players, head coaches or general managers.

To bring more opportunities for female football players, there are women’s leagues as well. The Women’s Football Alliance (WFA) is the biggest tackle football league for women in the U.S. It has 75 teams across the country, according to its website. Austin’s very own team, the Austin Outlaws, are among them. They play their games in

because of work, but interest and talent among young they’re always going girls. The WFA put on a camp to be there and they for girls around its championalways give 100%,” said ship game last summer held at Smith. the Pro Football Hall of Fame

They do that stadium, partnering with the because football is a Cleveland Browns of the NFL. physical outlet that they

There are more opportucan’t get anywhere else. nities in college for women, too.

And it helps their mental “Flag football is now a health, too. women’s sport for the [National

“When they make Association of Intercollegiate The Austin Outlaws’ coaching staff and their first tackle, or they Athletics],”said WFA commisone of their sponsors. make their first touchsioner King.¨That’s a huge step down... it’s like you can for women’s football. It’s just flag, the spring. And the WFA is not just see that confidence in them,” but it’s still a step and getting alone. There are others includSmith explains. people to recognize that women ing the United States Women’s “I believe it helps them in their can play the sport just as well as Football League (USWFL) and the Extreme Football League.

“I mean, it’s America’s sport, right? Everybody loves watching football, everybody watches it,” Lisa King, the commissioner and founder of the WFA says, “It’s a huge industry, but unfortunately, it’s only offered to half the population.”

Lorin Smith was not allowed to play football in high school. She got her football fix by playing every Sunday with a group of other women who were also interested. Then she found the Kaila Dunn, number 22 (center of photo), playing in a game against the Houston Power, another team in the WFA. Austin Outlaws.

“When they started in regular life, as well.” men can.”

2001, I joined them and I was a She even saw it benefit players

These are opportunities player for about 15 years,” Smith through the pandemic. She beKaila Dunn, the woman that was said.”Then it was kind of time denied a spot on her high school for me to retire, so I would start... lieves the pandemic increased the turnout at the Outlaw tryteam, would have welcomed. helping out with the coaching.” outs.

She’s making the best of it. She

She is now the defensive

“I think COVID has made is now a wide receiver for the coordinator for the Outlaws. people think about how things Austin Outlaws.

Players in the WFA are

“We’re trying to do somenot paid. They have regular jobs, are and how they could be and so they’re wanting to do something,” said Kaila Dunn. We’re families, and other responsibilithing else with their life besides trying to move the world and ties. just work, or playing softball, or shake it up a little bit. Just to

“Sometimes we do have soccer,” she says. show the next girl coming up people that, you know, either

Teams like the Outlaws behind us, ‘Hey, you can play have to miss practice because are trying to build a pipeline of football too if you want.’” of work, or they’re a little late

9

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15

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3

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11

Sports: Yay or Nay?

Softball in a glove with a softball bat. Photo by tinatruelove

Pros and Cons to Playing Sports By: Hannah Senior

Cat Osterman, a former professional softball player and two time olympic athlete, announced on September 27, 2021, that she was retiring. After pitching for the U.S softball Olympic team, Cat Osterman now resides in New Braunfels, Texas where she coaches for the Texas State Bobcats. Osterman’s impressive track record includes being inducted into the Texas Hall of Fame, along with Saints quarter-

12

back Drew Brees. From this, you would probably think that sports result in eternal happiness and fame. However, sports aren’t always beneficial to us. In fact, “Sports can have a cost monetarily and sacrificially,” says Osterman.

Sports do offer several benefits. Not only are they physically beneficial, but according to Dr. Erin Silvertooth, a certified sports psychiatrist

for Greenbrook TMS Neurohealth Center, “...there’s a terrific association between sports [,] physical activity, and positive mental health…” Does this mean that sports benefit us mentally too? The answer is both yes and no. Research has been conducted to see how sports benefit us mentally. For example, a study is currently being conducted to see if depression can be treated via exercise or a sport. But

Football player feeling the pressure during a game. Photo by OSTILL sports do cost athletes mentally. Athletes suffer from several mental health conditions including anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and eating disorders. Anxiety, such as stage fright or nerves before a game, are normal, to an extent. “Eating disorders are also relatively common…” says Dr. Silvertooth.

Athletes who participate in sports that have a lot of body

emphasis, were most likely to develop eating disorders.

Now physically, we know that playing sports is beneficial because it requires us to be active. However, over-exercising can lead to serious injuries. According to Dr. Windler, a sports physician from Austin Sports Medicine, “ [the] part of the body that is injured very commonly, would be [the] knee.” Knee injuries are common because most sports that require lower body movements are exposed to sudden stops, twists, and turns while running. Warm ups and proper hydration, “things that are often ignored,” says Dr. Windler, are essential to preventing serious injuries.

Sports have both a positive and negative impact on our health. To Osterman, playing sports “has shaped who I am.” The former softball player says that sports has greatly impacted her life in many ways.

She was first introduced to the sport when her neighbor, who coached a local softball team, asked her to play with the team because they were short a few

Volleyball team huddle after half-time. Photo by The US Army

members. After playing with the neighborhood team, Cat Osterman decided to continue playing softball. She went on to join her high school team, where as a junior, she realized “...I wanted to play as long as possible [on] the international stage, and professionally…” Over the years, playing sports has taught her several character traits and values that can be applicable in everyday life. They include things like learning to work with others, learning to celebrate with others, learning to find success, learning to work hard to achieve goals, and learning from failure.

Playing sports drives you to succeed. A big takeaway is that “you aren’t just instantly or continuously good at sports, you have to invest in it, and learning what investing takes over time is the single best way to teach work ethics.” Osterman says.

L“ earn from failure”

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MOST POPULAR UIL SPORTS PLAYED BY LASA STUDENTS

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A poll, consisting of 36 LASA students, was conducted to see which sport was the most popular sport played at LASA. The results are shown below:

1.

2 students in LASA said ultimate frisbee was their favorite sport

2.

3 students at LASA said softball was their favorite sport

3.

4 students at LASA said basketball was their favorite sport

4.

5 students at LASA said tennis was their favorite sport

5.

6.

6 students at LASA said volleyball was their favorite sport

7.

6 students at LASA said swimming was their favorite sport

8 students at LASA said soccer was their favorite sport

CHART:

8.

10 10 students at LASA selected other as their answer.

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

1

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The serious effects mental health can have on anyone, of any age

By Janani Venkat Easwar

I

t’s a usual day at Oak Hill Elementary for school counselor Mayra Rosales. She parks her car, heads into the school, and gets settled into her office as usual. But things aren’t normal. They haven’t been since Covid-19 hit Austin. Counseling requests are piling up on her desk, and even with Erika Ahumada, her fellow counselor, she may not be able to keep up with them. Her students’ mental health has definitely taken a turn for the worse.

Mental health is an important and complex thing. It affects everyone and every age, and while good mental health can help someone rise up to suc-

16

cess, unaddressed mental issues or mental disturbances can lead to someone plummeting down to the depths of life, causing selfharm and even suicide.

“I always talk to my community about how we take care of each other,” said Rosales on mental health within her school.

“From the very beginning, we share the role of what we do as trusted adults on campus.”

Rosales has worked with a range of students at Oak Hill Elementary. She has noticed that they often have very different things going on with their mental health. For example, “a kindergarten student,” she said, “[who is] just starting out in elementa-

ry school, in a school setting,” acts very differently from a fifth grader, who she said is in a very different “developmental stage.”

“[In fifth graders,] there are a lot of hormones that affect their mood; we see behavior, they start to test boundaries,” she stated. “It’s different from what a kindergartner is experiencing. They’re more concrete.

It’s how they see things. There’s no interpretation.” However, she agreed that whether it be fifth graders or kindergartners, Covid-19 has caused negative mental disturbance.

“[What] we’re seeing an increase in is anxiety,” she said,

Photograph by Creative Commons/ScarySideOfEarth

Head Health

adding that kids are worried for their parents’ lives as well as their own lives. She also said that kids really aren’t able to understand this sudden disturbance in the way their community is working, and that they’re waiting for some sort of normalcy.

“We have seen a huge increase in referrals for counseling services on campus,” she said.

She talked about how teachers were asking for counseling in “small groups” in August, which previously had always started in October, because they could see the kids’ needs were so high.

“Mental health is a health concern, so it should be addressed,” said Rosales.

She also said that one of the major factors that impacts

our physical and mental health is stress. “It could just have an impact on our wellbeing, and our health. There’s [also] a lot of research that stress can really hurt and damage our heart, and it can increase our blood pressure.”

Sara E. Gill, a psychologist at Dell Children’s Medical center, also speaks about the effects of stress and anxiety in the school setting. “For some kids there is a natural predisposition towards perfectionism,” she stated. “So when you’re in a really high-achieving environment it can certainly increase the anxiety and depression felt. It also depends on the level of support felt.”

Everyone needs a unique amount of support and can toler-

ate different amounts of stress in an environment. “You can take two individuals and put them in the exact same environment and have very different outcomes.

One other thing I might add is thinking about the culture of the school, the culture of the family, the culture of the individual becomes really important.”

Working in the sleep center, Gill has also noticed the effects of Covid on people’s sleep. “We’ve definitely seen an increase in insomnia as we’ve moved away from more structured settings and schedules [due] to that increased distress.

Those increased disruptions kind of build on themselves.”

Gill said that whatever the cause, friends can help someone get through tough times. “Obvi

The front of the Oak Hill Elementary School building, where counselor Mayra Rosales works.

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ously for many people, friends can become a huge protective factor that’s often a primary source of support, particularly as we move to adolescence.

And one of the things we know about friendships is that at some point, it’s more about quality than quantity.”

She also stressed the importance of trust.

“Having people that you feel you can be honest with and connected with,” she said, is vital.

“Trust is certainly an important piece of any sort of understanding of relationships.”

However, she also said friends can have a negative impact on someone. “For example, if you’re somebody who has a hard time with substances, and all of your friends use substances and struggle to understand why you might not, that would be a time when one would say those friendships are having a potential negative impact. We want friendships where there’s trust and good communication.

We’d vote for that.”

She also talked about another way friends could worsen mental health. “There are other times when you can engage in what we call coruminating. So when you’re with a friend, and initially maybe you’re both vent-

18

ing, but if you both get stuck in a really negative place so you’re both sort of reinforcing certain viewpoints or thought processes, it can increase depression, or other mental health concerns.”

Teens can be negatively affected by peers who are being insensitive or critical as well.

“We know that teens can be

~~~~~~~~ “Mental health is a health concern, so it should be addressed.” ~~~~~~~~

impacted by what we experience with others, being bullied is going to impact your mental health,” Gill stated.

Gill also talked about the common causes of anxiety and depression. “There’s a lot of overlap between anxiety and depression. They often co-occur, meaning they happen together, in part because some of the

cognitive processes underlying depression also underlie anxiety, so anxiety tends to be more future focused and depression is often more related to the past.”

“We also know more and more from research that there could be a correlation between let’s say anxiety, ADHD, and depression. A lot of times, undiagnosed or undertreated ADHD appears to be having a significant role in the appearance of depression, particularly in kids and adolescents,” she said. “Another one would be undiagnosed disabilities and things like that, so if you’re struggling in school or with some other issue and it hasn’t been treated, that could certainly contribute to depression.”

Gregory Ziomek, a psychiatrist affiliated with Ascension Seton Medical Center, spoke about the most common mental health disorders, including anxiety and depression.

“Anxiety and depression are the two leading diagnoses that we deal with and depending on the nature of the person’s issues, will vary on how they’re treated.”

He also spoke about another mental disorder, PTSD. “PTSD is common, and as we understand the effects of trauma, early childhood trauma,

and trauma in any phase of life, we’re better at understanding how that can affect us and how PTSD can be thought of as a sort of mimicker of other problems because you can appear to have hallucinations, depression, anxiety…”

Ziomek talked about more than the mental health of children - he talked about how adults and older people can also face mental health issues. He stated, “There are adults having pretty significant relationships, possibly children, marriages, careers, [and] family dynamics are changing during this time, and so any time there’s a disturbance in those important elements of our daily lives that are pretty substantial as we get to those ages, then you find yourself in a potential crisis, so then we often see things like divorce.”

“During the pandemic we saw a lot of [loss of jobs] especially early on, when businesses were shutting down, closing, downsizing, [and] a lot of loss of career and livelihood were leading to adults in that age range to having more anxiety,” he stated.

Ziomek also said, “As we age, things do change and

it’s important to consider those changes, which is why there’s a specialty in psychiatry called geriatric psychiatry, who specialize in working with our older adult population.”

Additionally, he talked about genetic components in mental health. “There’s also very clear research that shows that

~~~~~~~~ “Preventing is always going to be the best approach.” ~~~~~~~~

there’s a heritability or a genetic component to mental illness,” he said. “The biggest one being, bipolar disorder. If you look at studies of twins, there’s pretty significantly high correlation [that] if one twin has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, the other does, it’s not 100%, but it’s close.”

He expressed that “preventing is always going to be the

best approach, so that maybe, you never have to see someone like me.”

But if someone does end up needing mental health assistance, there are a variety of treatment methods. “Some anxiety and depression require various medication trials to see what helps relieve those symptoms,” Ziomek said, but added that to get to the core of the issue, therapy is often the best way to go.

Gill also talked about therapy and medication.

“For children and adolescents with depression, usually our first line of treatment recommended is therapy.

That may be talking about behavioral therapy, that may be clay therapy, traditional talk therapy, or group therapy. If that’s not enough, or there are cycles of depression or a level of severity with the depression, they may be referred to psychiatry for medication. And often what can be most helpful is a combination of therapy and medication.”

Ziomek stated the same.

“Studies show that typically a combination of medication and therapy are greater than the sum of the two parts,” he said.

So how does one take care of their mental health? Rosales said that she often tells her

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Photograph by Creative Commons / Mal B

students to take a break, enjoy nature, do an activity they enjoy.

“A lot of it is self-care and giving ourselves grace and compassion. Taking care of ourselves and being proactive in understanding our needs. Noticing and paying attention to our own bodies. What is my body communicating? Is my body telling me I need more sleep? Am I feeling more stress because of work demands and school demands?”

“I do enjoy sharing that with my students, and reminding them that it’s critical,” she said. “Kids don’t know this, so it’s just us having to bring to light what their coping strategies are.”

These coping strategies vary depending on a person’s interests, but Rosales also added that “pets can be very therapeutic as well.”

Gill said that “a lot of it comes down to getting to know yourselves.”

She also said, “we definitely recommend getting decent sleep, I know that can be hard particularly when school’s at its height; eating well, taking care of yourself, getting exercise, trying to keep that balance; finding time for friends even when school’s crazy, and also if your family’s supportive, making time with them.” She also added that “hav-

ing those trusting relationships in your life you find supportive can make a big difference.”

Ziomek came back to the idea of finding activities one enjoys. He said, “So finding activities you enjoy, having interests and some people like having lots of friends, some people like having a close tight knit

know we all live very busy lives with school, activities, work, and everything we want to do to be successful. Keeping those things in mind, have compassion, grace, on yourself, and do the things that you need to do to be well.”

~~~~~~~~ “Do the things you need to do to be well.” ~~~~~~~~

friend group, having a support network, maybe that includes family, maybe your family is your friends or your co-workers.” Most importantly, he added that “if you do end up needing the help of a mental health professional, having the kind of support system that helps get you there” is crucial.

Rosales phrased it best. “I

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The Kind of Thing That Eats Away at You A deep dive into nutrition and eating disorders.

By Alanna D’Cruz

24

You start the new year great. You make friends in your classes, and you like most of your teachers. The day flies by, and all of a sudden, you’re sitting down for lunch with your friends. You want to eat something, but for some reason, you can’t. You look at the sandwich you packed for lunch that day and you just aren’t hungry. So you talk for the rest of your lunch period and brush it off, thinking it’s just a one-time thing. The next day rolls around, and again you find that you don’t want to eat today.

This happens over and over for the rest of the week. It seems like as soon as there are other people around, you lose your appetite. Eventually, you decide to just push through it. You’ve started losing a little bit of weight, and you’re getting slightly worried.

You take a bite of your food and feel embarrassed. You’re not sure why, as you’ve never felt this way when eating before. You start becoming more conscious about the way your body looks, checking on the way your stomach, legs, or arms look in pretty much every reflective surface you can find.

These are warning signs of an eating disorder. While anyone can develop an eating disorder, they are especially common among student-age women. Eating disorders have always been a sensitive and tough subject to tackle, but the discussion is finally becoming more transparent, and people are finally beginning to talk about disordered eating.

An eating disorder may have

started as dieting, exercising, or doing something good for your body. But at some point, this “healthy eating” turned into calorie restriction, and the light exercise four times a week turned into something more, something necessary, and no longer something you were doing because you wanted to. An eating disorder also may have been caused by stress, feeling out of place, or feeling overwhelmed/out of your element. Many people develop eating disorders when in a position where they feel powerless.

Eating “ disorder behaviors, which include dieting behaviors or overexercise behaviors, are actually reinforced and applauded a lot in our culture, so it can be really hard for people to understand that these behaviors are disorders.”

When people feel out of control in their lives, they turn towards the things that they know they can control. Eating is a perfect target for this. You do it every day, and it’s easy to pick and choose the food you want to eat.

specialist and 11-year eating disorder therapist, “Eating disorder behaviors, which include dieting behaviors or overexercise behaviors, are actually reinforced and applauded a lot in our culture, so it can be really hard for people to understand that these behaviors are disorders.”

This cultural acceptance of disordered eating contributes to the concept of what is called “diet culture”.

Diet culture is anything that revolves around the belief of thinness is what makes a person beautiful, healthy, or important. Rocha says that diet culture includes an “obsess[ion] with oppression and narrow standards of beauty.” In addition to this, she says that there are many types of diet culture behaviors, like “tracking, logging food, counting calories, [and] any kind of hyperfocus around food [or] eating.” Eating disorders have been incredibly normalized in our society due to diet culture, and as Rocha said before, it can be really hard for people to realize that their patterns of behavior are actually eating disorders.

However, it can be just as easy for eating habits to spiral out of control. According to Veronica L. Rocha, an eating disorder

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If diet culture makes it hard to recognize an eating disorder, what happens to your body when you actually develop one?

Rocha says that undernourishment causes certain organ systems to shut down and that the body goes on “survival mode.” When factoring in the mental aspects of having an eating disorder, she says that “a person’s mental capacity gets overrun with obsessions about numbers, food, eating, not eating, [and] body size”. This fills up any space for the person to learn, focus, or retain information. Many people will also feel dizzy or faint, possibly even passing out due to lack of food.

When looking at eating disorders, it is important to look at the overlap it has with general nutrition. Paying attention or lacking substance from different food groups can also have detrimental affects on one’s health. When talking about food groups, Amy Owen, school nurse at LASA high school, shares an app she found called “MyPlate.” She says that when looking for information on a “good general balance[d plate,] you might refer to that because it’ll talk to you about the theory.”

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When asked if LASA provided a breeding ground for more intense eating habits and possible disordered eating, she said that she “think[s] it’s pretty much the same everywhere.”

She shares that “one thing [she’s] found about teenagers is no matter what school [she works at], it’s the same issues.”

“By applauding weight loss, [someone] is saying to you that the most important thing about you is how you look, how thin you are, and that ’s wrong! You are an entire human being.”

So if it isn’t just something LASA students experience, what are the reasons so many teens face these issues? Owen says that many teens will “feel like they’re too busy, or they don’t have time to take a moment to eat or get something to drink.” This brings us back to the idea that stress or feeling overwhelmed is often a factor in eating disorder development, even if it’s not conscious. Taking an extra 15 minutes of your lunch to work may seem like a good idea in theory, but eventually, that 15 minutes could turn into 20, and then 30, then 45, and all of a sudden, you haven’t eaten any food at all. Taking time out of your schedule to prioritize work over food may seem like a good idea in the short term, but it can have devastating consequences.

People with anorexia nervosa often develop lower hormone and fertility levels, which can

also impact bone density. People with bulimia often develop dental decay due to frequent vomiting or acid reflux. And to state the obvious, eating disorders can be fatal.

to them. The way our bodies look can be an extremely touchy subject, and eating disorders can be reinforced by comments disguised as helpful compliments.

If eating disorders have so many consequences, both mental and physical, why are they still so common? Again, people often prioritize other things over eating. And again, diet culture promotes a narrow beauty standard that people will do anything to meet.

Whether this means buying products to lose weight, exercise classes, or getting on “Weight Watchers”, everything pours and contributes more money into the only growing multi-billion dollar industry.

According to Rocha, “by applauding weight loss, [someone] is saying to you that the most important thing about you is how you look, how thin you are, and that’s wrong! You are an entire human being.” She says that the key to preventing eating disorders and recovering from them is “body acceptance, [and] remembering that you’re more than your body.” Setting boundaries is also important, even if it’s with the people you love. You have to prioritize your mental health and safety.

A person who’s vulnerable when it comes to their body and image will be most open to trying out all the products, weight loss challenges, and gym memberships offered

It’s always important to remember that it’s not your fault if you do end up developing an eating disorder, and that help is always out there. Even if a person doesn’t have access to or

isn’t ready for therapy, there are free online support groups and resources available. Remember to set boundaries, not to be too hard on yourself, and to work on creating a positive and accepting mindset when it comes to your body. Learn how to love every part of yourself, even if it’s hard. These are your beginning steps to recovery.

Sources NEDA, Healthline, Eating Disorder Hope, MyPlate, FlickR, PixR, Resources 1. NEDA (National Eating Disorder Alliance) - Provides a hotline, support groups, and some basic starting information on eating disorders 2. MyPlate 3. ANADA (Eating Disorder Support Group) 4. Center for Discovery 5. Austin Anxiety 6. Austin Teen Therapy

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Effects of eating disorders on the body

By Alanna D’Cruz

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anorexia nervosa bulimia nervosa binge-eating disorder

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1. Hair - Anorexia often causes hair to weaken and fall out.

2. Heart - Anorexia can cause a multitude of cardiovascular problems, like low blood pressure, poor circulation, and weakening and thinning blood.

3. Muscles - Anorexia causes a decrease in muscle mass.

4. Stomach - Anorexia often causes bloating and abdominal pain.

5. Uterus - Anorexia causes infertility and abnormal periods. If a person with anorexia nervosa does manage to conceive, there is a high risk of miscarriage and low birth weight babies.

6. Skin and all over body - Anorexia causes dry, yellow-toned skin, and fine hair to develop.

7. Bones - anorexia often causes osteoporosis and bone weakening.

(NEDA) 8. Cheeks and jaw - Bulimia often causes swollen and sore cheeks and jaws.

10. Stomach - Bulimia can cause ulcers and ruptured stomachs.

9. Throat - Throwing up so frequently causes sore throat and acid reflux.

11. Teeth - Bulimia erodes the teeth and causes dental decay.

(Eating Disorder Hope)

12. Face - Binge eating can result in an increase in acne.

13. Heart - Binge eating can cause heartburn and high blood pressure.

14. Stomach - Binge eating often causes bloating and abdominal pain.

(Healthline)

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Medicine and Adrenaline

EZine Fall 2021