Effects of Anorexia Nervosa Research Assignment (Research Paper Sample)

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Effects of Anorexia Nervosa
The mere mention of the word anorexia brings the image of weight loss to an individual. However, the effects of the disorder are far much critical than how many people presume it to be. The disorder exhibits similar characteristics of one of the deadliest physical diseases, cancer. This is due to its effects that starts being realized in one organ and ends up affecting multiple body organs, possibly leading to death. In most instances, it is difficult to reverse the physical effects of starvation.
The brain is one of the places that is vastly affected by the condition in a physical aspect. Anorexia causes the brain to shrink because of insufficient nutrients supplied to it for development and growth. The shrinking subsequently leads to reduction in IQ. The Families Empowered and Supporting Treatment of Eating Disorders in adding further to our insights on eating disorders and the brain:
We know that starvation and weight loss have powerful effects on the body and the brain. Malnutrition impacts on the brain’s capacity to think, manage emotions and process information from its environment. Starvation often exaggerates an individual’s personality traits and ways of thinking. Malnutrition may lead to changes in brain development even after they have restored normal eating and weight. (page 3)
The malnutrition to the brain will go to an extent of affecting the release of hormones thus altering the performance of various organs in the body giving a room for further complications.
The heart is another vital organ that is affected by Anorexia. Most of those who succumb to the disease during its severe stages are noted to have suffered from heart diseases (Casiero and Frishman, 2006). With the starvation, the energy levels for the muscles of the heart to enable pumping of blood becomes a challenge thus the lower number of heartbeats of less than 60 per minute are recorded when persons have this disorder. “As patients with anorexia lose weight, they lose muscle mass, both of the skeletal and cardiac type.  When patients lose cardiac muscle mass, they can develop mitral valve prolapse” (Caroline, 2014). The body will generally attempt to conserve energy and the heart which consumes a lot of the energy arising from the metabolism reactions, will actively participate by reducing the number of heartbeats and the intensity (Myatt, 2014).
Anorexia further affects the bones of an individual thus exposing a victim to various other challenges. The malnutrition possibly leads to a health condition known as osteoporosis. People with this condition bones that are less dense and more likely to fracture. “Bone disease is a common finding in patients with anorexia nervosa and includes a possible impact on linear growth, reduced bone mineral density (BMD), changes in bone turnover and structural and microarchitectural alterations leading to increased fracture risk” (Page 4). The relationship with anorexia is common in reference to females when the functioning of the brain in stimulating estrogen hormone is altered. When the levels of estrogen are low, the density of the bones is affected to the negative side. The condition further stimulates the production of higher quantities of cortisol which is a form of adrenaline hormone that trigger...