Many of us gauge when or when not to eat food by the grumbling or empty feeling in our stomachs. However, what most people don't know is that our hunger levels are controlled in our brains, not our stomachs; sequences of hormones and signals along with the hypothalamus are responsible for when we want to eat. These chemical messengers can be to blame when it comes to overeating, a theory for the cause of obesity, or under eating.
Living in a high-tech and mediated world, we see models and celebrities on a daily basis. For many young women, and sometimes men, this pressure can cause them to see themselves as overweight and resort to drastic measures. Bulimia nervosa, the bingeing and purging of food, and anorexia nervosa, the starvation due to perception of being overweight, are the most common eating disorders.
According to CBS News, there are even sites that promote anorexia or bulimia for the sake of "thinspiration," but Dr. Andrea Vazzana claims that followers of these sites use them for means of support for their own problem. Around 24 million Americans have an eating disorder; and eating disorders have the highest mortality rate out of all mental disorders.
If technology and media has accelerated these mental disorders on body image, what was it like before there was media or the internet? Was there just as much pressure for women and women to be thin?
