Going to college provides an exciting opportunity for young adults to explore a new sense of independence. This experience becomes tricky to navigate with an eating disorder. Eating disorders can affect all aspects of college life, including academic performance, social life, sleep, and overall health. Read on to learn 3 ways that eating disorders can affect the lives of college students.
1. Academic Performance
Eating disorders make it challenging to concentrate. With restrictive eating disorders, the brain is starved of energy. The brain can only use glucose (primarily from carbohydrates) to function. A starved brain makes it a lot more difficult to complete the same amount of work that a nourished brain can do. Restrictive eating disorders also often create the burden of constant food thoughts due to hunger. With other eating disorders, including binge eating disorder or bulimia, the stress of college life may lead to behavior used to cope. These behaviors take up time, energy, and brain space. As a result, all types of eating disorders can have a serious, negative impact on students’ academics.
2. Social Life
Eating disorders are associated with anxiety and racing thoughts. Eating disorder behaviors are often used to alleviate this anxiety. This can encourage isolation, especially due to concern about how these behaviors could be perceived by others. Students may also skip out on social gatherings to avoid eating certain types or amounts of food. This may not seem like a big deal, but core experiences of college include dining hall dinners, late night pizza, and early morning bagel runs with friends. These are all little moments that bring joy and connection. Alternatively, if students do go to social events, their eating disorders may make it difficult for them to be present. Instead of being focused on the conversation, students may be consumed with thoughts about food, body image, or urges to use behaviors.
3. Sleep & Overall Health
Eating disorders can disrupt sleep in several ways. Restrictive eating disorders can cause difficulty falling or staying asleep because the body knows that it didn’t get enough nourishment. Alternatively, various eating disorders can cause students to sleep longer than they intended. In this case, the body is forcing rest to conserve energy. Both interfere with a college schedule. In addition to impacting sleep, eating disorders can cause serious, life-threatening medical complications that require monitoring and treatment. This can necessitate taking a break from school altogether to ensure safety.
Closing Thoughts on Ways that Eating Disorders Can Affect College Students
Thanks for reading our resource on 3 Ways that Eating Disorders Can Affect College Students. College is a stressful time. The transition from living at home to being fully independent is full of new changes, stressors, and pressures. However, it’s also full of new opportunities, experiences, and freedoms. It’s important not to let things, such as food, detract from your college experience. With the right tools and resources you can positively fuel both your body and your college experience.
Seeking support for an eating disorder can help students navigate these challenges. If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, we can help! We see students virtually across the country and in-person on University of Maryland’s campus in College Park, MD.
Contact Us
Courage to Nourish is a group of eating disorder specialized dietitians. We have in person locations in Alexandria, Virginia, Columbia, Maryland. and College Park, Maryland. We offer virtual services across the state of Virginia, Washington DC, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. We offer individual nutrition therapy. As well as support groups. We would love to guide you in building a better relationship with food.
Contact us for more information. And to schedule a discovery call. Also, sign up for our client or clinician newsletter!
Take one of our eating disorder quizzes: