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Dealing with body issues in college
There is help out there.
College can be seriously stressful. Over a very short period of time you may have to get used to living away from home, making new friends, dealing with new subjects and maybe even trying to find your way around a new city. Your lifestyle changes completely when you start college. Once you get the hang of it, college life can be really fun. But feeling homesick, struggling to keep up with coursework and worrying about fitting in during your college days can sometimes have a huge impact on your self-esteem.
Eating healthily and exercising are massively important parts of feeling good about yourself (especially in college when you’re constantly on the go), but everything should be done in moderation. College may be the first time in your life that you’ve had complete control over your meals or lived close to a gym. Over-exercising can be a serious issue, especially for men, and it is important to recognize just how damaging extreme behaviour can be for you.
If you feel that your eating or exercising habits are getting out of control there is always help available to you. Talk to your flatmates, your friends, a lecturer that you trust, the college doctor, chaplain, or counsellor, the Student Union Welfare Officer or anyone that you feel that you can talk to about it. Once you’ve acknowledged the problem and told someone, then you can begin dealing with your body issues and start on the road towards recovery. Eating disorders are increasingly common amongst Irish college students, both male and female, and 200,000 people across all age groups in Ireland are affected by eating disorders. So, you are definitely not alone.
If you think that a friend or flatmate could be suffering from an eating disorder it is important to address the issue. You can help by doing something as simple as picking up an information leaflet on eating disorders from your college health unit or counselling service and leaving it lying around the house. This is an easy and direct way of letting the person know that there is support out there for them. Bodywhys, the national eating disorder association, have helpful guides on how best to approach someone who may be suffering from an eating disorder.
Your college years can be the best of your life and you're guaranteed to make friends there that you'll have forever. So, make sure that you turn to those around you when you feel like things are becoming too much to handle.
By: Lorraine O’Hanlon
Bodywhys provides a variety of support services for those affected by eating disorders including:
Support groups throughout the country
Online information and message boards
Lo-call helpline: 1890 200 444.
E-mail support: alex@bodywhys.ie
