Persistently negative eating habits that affect health, motions and overall ability to function are called eating disorders are serious. The most widely known eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder.

Most eating disorders characterized by excessive concern for your weight, body shape and food, leading to an unhealthy relationship with food. These behaviours can be dangerous, significantly affecting your body's capability to absorb proper nutrition. Prolonged eating disorders can damage the heart, digestive system, bones, teeth and mouth, and lead to other serious health disorders.

Eating disorders are usually seen to develop in teens and young adults, although are not confined to this age group. There are treatments available that can help you get on a healthier journey of eating habits and sometimes helps to recover faster from serious complications caused by the eating disorder.

What are the types of eating disorders?

Eating disorders are a form of psychological ailments that can be characterised by irregular eating habits. Some common types of eating disorders are:

1. Anorexia nervosa: This is a disorder occurring in people who are hyper-fixated on their weights and think they are not “thin enough” or “fat” despite extreme weight loss. They try to lose weight by excessive dieting and exercising relentlessly, at times to the point of starvation. People who have an extreme fear of gaining weight or growing fat show signs of Anorexia Nervosa. 
2. Bulimia nervosa. The condition is characterised by cycles of extreme overeating, known as binging, followed by behaviours for balancing the overeating, called purging. In this people also show a loss of control over eating. The common signs to look out for are: dramatic weight loss, Wearing loose or bulky clothes to hide weight loss, Preoccupation with food, dieting, counting calories, etc. or a complete refusal to eat certain foods, such as carbs or fats. 
3. Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). This condition is usually seen during childhood when the child is extremely picky or chooses not to eat certain kinds of foods or eats very less. People with ARFID may avoid certain foods, not because of concerns related to weight and appearance but rather because of the texture or odour of the food.
4. Binge eating disorder: This condition is characterised by periodic outbreaks of bingeing on large quantities of food. Like in the case of bulimia, people with this disorder also lose control during these episodes and later face a sense of guilt and shame about it. This behaviour evolves into a vicious cycle, as with more distress they feel about binging, they tend to binge more. These people are more vulnerable to extreme weight gain, and obesity as they do not experience the stage of purging, fasting or exercising. 

Does gender play a role in this?

As most eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia occur due to body image issues, they tend to develop during the teenage and young adult years and are more commonly seen in girls and women. Women are largely affected by this issue because of psychological and medical impacts caused by low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and trouble coping. This does not mean men do not face such issues; rather, due to a strong association of eating disorders with women, men are less likely to identify these disorders in themselves or seek out treatment. Although with time, this number has also started increasing.

In terms of signs and symptoms that caused unhappiness in their lives, there is not much difference between men and women with eating disorders. Both suffer similar rates of anxiety, depression, phobias, panic disorder, and alcohol dependence. It is also believed that anorexia may be less visible in men than women because men can still have muscle mass even if they are lean.

Unlike other eating disorders, binge eating disorder is common in both genders. According to statistics published by the National Institute of Mental Health, the average age at which binge eating disorder begins is 25, and is more commonly seen in people under age 60.