‘Bully-mia’, a cause of bulimia?

What is bullying? Bullying is making use of one’s perceived upper hand to belittle and downgrade others. Bullies are those who are too afraid to deal with their own shortcomings and would instead prefer to remind others of their insecurities. Though school and college bullying are the most spoken about, bullying does not stop with adolescence as some bullies just refuse to grow up.

We live in a society full of bullies; a society where we are constantly reminded of other’s perfections and our imperfections. This past week, Shobhaa De got the wrong end of the stick when she body-shamed an overweight cop, not realising he suffered from a physical condition. People around us make it no easier, constantly judging us for the way we look, and unabashedly making jokes on the same. Body shaming is an accepted evil in today’s world.

All this pressure can lead to an individual taking extreme and disastrous steps to create or maintain their perfect image in society. One such step is bulimia.

Bulimia nervosa, also known simply as bulimia, is an eating disorder characterised by binge eating followed by purging. This may be done by vomiting or taking laxatives. This constant purging completely disrupts and destroys the intestines. Though bulimia starts off with involuntary purging, it slowly leads to instantaneous vomiting and inability to properly digest the food consumed. There are an estimated 10 million new cases of bulimia in India every year, making it a serious matter of concern and a public health issue.

People have very often talked about bulimia and anorexia while keeping models and actresses in mind, but what we fail to realise is that bulimia is a disease that is widespread among the masses, alarmingly in school/college-going teenagers, and prevalent among a small section of males. 

It is easy to say that we must not let others’ opinions affect us, but when certain individuals take it upon themselves to make sure that our flaws and incapabilities haunt us at every step in life, it is hard to not give into the temptation of an easy escape. However, it is integral to keep in mind that bulimia starts off as an ‘ingenious hack’, an easy way out, but it ends up as an addiction. An addiction no less harmful to your body than the most potent drugs. Though exercise and a healthy diet are more strenuous and take time to show results, they are long-lasting and extremely beneficial to our health. Moreover, we must maintain our mental health by surrounding ourselves with positive and kind people, as well as by being extremely sensitive of how we refer to others and judge them. In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, “Knowing what is right doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.” 

Send your edits to gennextedit@dnaindia.net