“I think it’s an interesting balance. College itself is a stressful time. The trend is continuing across the country that young men and women are presenting more mental health disorders. I think a lot of it has to do with an identity crisis, and we’ve made that such a calling card in our culture.”
This is a remarkably powerful statement from Jonny Wilson, the director of campus recreation and former cross-fitter at Union, who studies mental and physical health to better equip students for success. We discussed mental health in his office, which revealed an issue affecting Union University that is both surprising and subconsciously ignored.
Disordered eating is a mental health issue affecting students, and we need to be talking about it.
The idea of eating disorders and what that entails was a mystery to me before I sat down with Jonny. Many people commonly associate eating disorders with anorexia and bulimia, two of the most well-known illnesses. However, there’s something else that’s making itself known to Union, and I was very surprised to hear it’s prevalence on Christian college campuses.
“Disordered eating involves either obsession over the food you’re eating, and a reliance or distaste of the food you’re eating, ” said Wilson, much to my surprise. “On college campuses you find this a lot, most definitely.”
Wilson has been working with students through fitness and health classes for quite some time now. He articulates that disordered eating is more of a mental issue that many don’t think about here at Union, and disordered eating is a major preliminary symptom to future, and more serious, eating disorders.
Both men and women struggle with this issue, specifically when it comes to limiting the food they eat or the type of food. Wilson tells me that, specifically for women, it’s usually a poor body image that influences what they eat and how they view food. Women and men may convince themselves they only need a specific amount of calories everyday, and thus lower their calorie intake significantly, thinking it will make them lose weight and stay more fit. However, Wilson revealed to me that this is, in fact, the opposite.
“The body will undercut its own caloric intake because, basically, it’s own fear that it will starve. Fat storages actually increase, hormones get completely out of whack…,” said Wilson, elaborating on how our bodies handle this type of behavior.
Wilson also notes that men are victims to disordered eating as well, much more than you’d think.
“For men, disordered eating could be just an intense fascination with working out. Male athletes are often in this spectrum, where they think they need to perform and increase their volume, or bulk up rapidly to be a specific weight. This lends itself to disordered eating,” he said.
It’s important to note that this an ongoing issue in West Tennessee and specifically Union, where the unique pressures of a Christian school are affecting kids in a serious way. Stress is often a factor that results in these mental health problems. Students are used to hearing about mental issues such as depression and anxiety, but it’s not often we think about eating disorders and disordered eating at all.
This is also a cultural issue.
Wilson talked about our society as a whole not giving college-age students adequate information about mental health and self-improvement. And if they do, it’s the wrong information, or skewed in a way that’s not healthy, whether it’s magazines’ implying that women should look a certain way or celebrities praising men’s specific stature. Either way, the world around us doesn’t do much to lift the curtain.
“We don’t know how to do it. We don’t have the tools to find our purpose in this area, and when those tools decrease, mental health problems increase,” said Wilson.
In a world full of media and self-comparison, this isn’t a surprise.
For students here at Union, the pressure may be more intensified. Expectations are higher, and not to mention, schoolwork can become an intense and overwhelming stressor. Wilson articulates that on campus we fall subject to thinking that everyone is just fine and that no one else is hurting. After all, we’re on an amazing Christian campus with endless opportunities and Christ-driven faculty. But there are still people out there struggling. There is help available, and this is a major push from people like Wilson, who hopes to educate people on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and provide tips to help them live a positive life mentally, physically and spiritually.
Wilson is currently teaching a class called “Moving Through Stress” with MaryLawson Day, who is on staff for the Counseling Services at Union.
So what can we do?
Wilson gave some helpful tips on how to maintain mental and physical health, all of which apply to people struggling with this issue and much more.
1) Talk to someone
“There are programs in place to help you. Being brave enough to admit you have, maybe not even a problem, but you’re feeling like you’re in crisis mode…is a great way for students to get help.”
2) Monitor your social media intake
“In terms of ways to fight body image distortions is to limit or monitor the media you watch …Look at how much in the last 24 hours how much time you’ve spent on social media. We assume that we’re really working hard all day, but we spent, say, three hours on Instagram.”
3) Educate yourself on self-health
“Growing in your awareness of the science of health is important. Typically you’ll find the highest amount of mental disorders in the lowest educated communities, where the knowledge about such disorders is very low. Finding ways to educate yourself is so important.”
4) Sleep.
“Probably the number one [thing] that any college student could do to better their mental state and metabolic state is sleep. Sleep is a massive factor and we don’t give it nearly enough credit, especially in our culture at Union….I guarantee you, if you gave me a college student who was really struggling or had disordered eating…you give me two weeks to put them on a regular sleeping schedule, fifty percent of their problems are gone. And the rest are more manageable now.”
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In a world where stress seems like the new trend and mental health issues are often overlooked, it’s important for all students, specifically at Union, to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Disordered eating and other issues are more common than we think, and it’s essential that students make active changes for the benefit of their bodies, souls and spirits.