Vigorexia an obsession for the physicist

• April 24, 2024

Healthy mens in corpore sano, is the famous Latin quote that appeals to the need for a balanced spirit. When this perfect balance is broken and we become slaves to the cult of the physical, disorders such as vigorexia , which can cause psychological, cardiac and even death.

The vigorexia or muscle dysmorphia It was studied, for the first time in 1997, by Dr. Harrison G. Pope, a psychiatrist at the Mc Lean Hospital in Boston (United States). It was framed within a group of so-called disorders. body dysmorphisms , suffered by those people who do not feel comfortable with their own body and are obsessed with the improvement of certain physical defects.

For some experts, the vigorexia is the reverse of the anorexia nervosa . Given that the damage caused by this type of muscle dysmorphia they are not as visible as those in the anorexy , this anomaly has not been taken care of properly, and it can even cause the death of those who suffer it.

It particularly affects males

In accordance with Alfredo García Vázquez , of the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health of the Faculty of Medicine of the UNAM, this disease affects basically young men. One of the most obvious characteristics of this disorder is that they become obsessed with their physique; they use steroids whose effects cause "a series of alterations in brain function that favor psychiatric illnesses such as depression , anxiety Y psychosis ”.

In addition, the use of steroids associated with subsistence allowance high in carbohydrates and proteins, and the exercise Excessive performance of this type of person affects the functioning of the heart, which can lead to death for long cardiac .

The vigorexia in figures

In the United States, a study revealed that of the nearly 9 million men who attend the gym, 900,000 suffer from vigorexia (ie, 10%) In Spain, similar work determined that there are about 700 thousand cases. Given that in Mexico it is a recent disease among the population, there are no figures, it is only known that it is presented by men between 17 and 35 years old.

If in the anorexy 90% of the affected population are women, in the vigorexia the percentage of males is the same, and this disorder could have causes as varied as a brain disorder in the parietal lobe , which is the region in which humans integrate our body image or the presence of emotional disturbances such as depression or the insecurity that the individual experiences when they can not adapt to the corporal fashions that the culture imposes.

If you are one of the people who exercise, Why do you do it: for health or for looking good?  

Video Medicine: Body Transformation: Jeff Cavaliere (MY STORY) (April 2024).