“Up to 70% of female athletes may engage in behaviors that can develop into an eating disorder, such as restricting food and trying to lose weight,” Mass General Brigham, a health care system said.
In addition, the National Health Institute stated that, “athletes are a high-risk group for eating disorders, with a high prevalence of eating disorder attitudes and behaviors estimated between 14 percent and 45 percent.”
Athletes, who may seem dialed into their physical and mental health, may undergo challenges imposed by their sport in these areas.
For endurance sports, such as running or swimming, being lighter and leaner is more favorable. Therefore, these athletes are often seen as underfueling themselves, resulting in weight loss in a sport that relies on being adequately fueled.
Within sports where aesthetics play a large part in the sport, such as dance, gymnastics, diving, or cheerleading, these athletes also suffer from the pressure of looking a certain way while performing.
Within the sport of wrestling, body weight is one of the biggest components of competition. Wrestlers will weigh in before a competition to be assigned to their respective weight classes. Some athletes will try to cut back or gain weight to fall into certain weight classes to compete.
“In weight category sports such as judo, boxing, and wrestling, athletes will not be allowed to compete if their weight is above the upper limit for that category. This can create considerable pressure to achieve the necessary weight loss, and often in a very short period of time,” the National Health Institute said.
These pressures imposed on athletes, on top of school expectations add to athletes already stressful lives.
“At tournaments, they call our school to do the weigh-ins. They will check to make sure our nails are short enough. And we lift our hair, to show that we are wearing the required bra,” senior girls’ wrestling captain Lyndsey Young said.
While the sport of wrestling itself doesn’t necessarily encourage restrictive eating, it is a large component of the sport that, to lose weight, athletes must suppress eating even when hungry or engage in bingeing to reach their desired weight. Undergoing various forms of restrictive eating hurts the psychological well being of these athletes.
“You have to be mentally prepared for anything to happen. Sometimes you may be way underweight, and you can eat whatever you want and make weight perfectly. Or sometimes you’ll be so close that you stress about it,” Young said.
Young has noticed throughout her years of wrestling that many of her teammates deal with the effects of weigh-ins.
“I know a bunch of our girls struggle, and it causes a lot of eating disorders. We’ve had girls before who’ve put on hoodies and sweat pants and just run so they can sweat off all the water weight,” Young said.
This constant monitoring of weight fluctuations, self-induced starvation, and hyper-awareness of one’s body is not healthy for high-performing athletes, especially those who require a great deal from their bodies.
For athletes who are already incredibly in tune with their physical health, they will be more conscious of their bodies and how they feel. They require their bodies to be in the best shape all the time to perform their best. This is what makes athletes more prone to acquiring an eating disorder.
“Most of us don’t eat or drink throughout the day, to make sure that we make weight. We even had some girls throw up in the bathrooms,” Young said.
Young has noticed that when she drinks less water or fuels herself less, she performs worse.
“I have noticed it drains me. I struggle more, and I’m tired trying to hurry up after a weigh-in to fuel myself up before I go out there and wrestle. I’m just tired and pooped,” Young said.
According to Trine University, “To help eliminate not only the risk of developing an eating disorder due to wrestling, but also the constant mental and physical struggles that an athlete may experience. Proper training and support must be shown at the beginning of the introduction of wrestling, through coaches, parents, and teammates.”
Coaches and teammates play an important role in the support system for athletes. Young mentioned, how at the beginning of the season, the coaches make them do a hydration test. This test gives them insight into their hydration levels, helping them have a better understanding of their body.
On top of that, they perform other tests to help the athletes see how much body fat they have and what their current weight is.
With results from both of these tests, the athletes are then given a nutrition plan they can follow throughout the season to help them navigate cuts and bulks.
While the athletes are given resources and are guided by their coaches, the threat of mental hurdles still poses. When teens are already at a vulnerable stage in their lives, the pressures that their sport inflicts casues extra psychological challenges that they must cope with. It can be hard to navigate, but there will always be resources available for these athletes.
