How do sports impact the health of a female athlete?

Prevention is a big part of helping athletes with eating disorders. A literature review by Coelho et al. (2014) suggests that education focusing on the prevention of eating disorders in athletes could greatly reduce the risks or help catch them early. These researchers concluded that there is a need for national and international sports federations to implement recommendations for preventing eating disorders. The most crucial finding for prevention was the implementation of educational programs on eating disorders. Not only should athletes be a part of these educational programs, but any staff apart of an athletic program. The importance of educating everyone is so that programs are a better fit in diagnosing and helping eating disorders. Coelho et al.’s research identify that:

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    "The most important measures are establishing educational initiatives to discourage extreme dieting, taking athletes who seek to lose weight/change body composition seriously, and modifying the rules in some of the sports" (p. 110).

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That is, the educational programs should include the dangers of extreme dieting its dangers on the onset of eating disorders. Unhealthy diet cultures can be very attractive to athletes who want a fast fix, but it is important to teach them about its dangers. It is also important to guard our younger athletes as well. It’s important not to predispose them to unhealthy diets, which is why education on “Primary prevention should be initiated as early as 9–11 years of age” (Coelho et al., 2014, p.110) One final thing to integrate into educational programs is the promotion of self-acceptancy. If an athlete is able to love herself then that is a big step in reducing eating disorders. Having these education programs for athletics will not only help us prevent eating disorders but also provide a healthier environment for our athletes. “The development and implementation of educational programs that promote self-acceptance, healthy eating, and reasonable training in athletes are expected to be effective in eating disorder prevention” (Coelho et al., 2014, 110).

 

Coelho et al. (2014) state that “The best practices may be sport specific” (p. 110). This is most definitely true as each sport is different, so the prevention of eating disorders must be looked at from the perspective of each sport. For example, gymnastics keeps high standards for young female athletes on how their appearance may be. Seeing a gymnast who is over aware of how she looks could be a common factor in identifying eating disorders in gymnasts. Whereas competing for wrestling can be very dependent on the athlete’s weight. She may not be concerned about how she looks on the outside but will go through extraordinary measures such as purging or forcefully throwing up to make it at the weigh-in. These very different sports show how different unhealthy behaviors can be.