Your Body, Body Image & Health

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Lose even 1/2 hour of sleep and your concentration and memory are affected! Getting an hour or two more would help.

Women are far more likely to than men to be unhappy with the way they look, and their weight is the biggest reason why. The worrying starts early. Nearly half of all 13-year-old girls say they don’t like their looks. By 18, it’s up to 80 percent. One study even found that young girls are more afraid of being fat than they are of nuclear war or getting cancer.
—Dan Rather

Did you know...

• 75% of all people are dehydrated
• By the time you’re feeling thirsty, you’re already dehydrated
• Lack of water is a major factor in daytime fatigue
• Drinking water can suppress appetite

I don’t have any earth-shattering advice to offer to anyone and I don’t really have a magic cure. High school is rough, no matter who you are or what you have to deal with. As hard as it is, the only thing I can say is that if you’re dealing with an eating disorder, you absolutely are not alone. One of the scariest things for me was feeling like I was alone—like I was the only one who had that problem. Now, when I talk to people, there are so many of them who tell me that they had eating disorders in high school. My best advice is to talk to someone about it. It’s hard, but find someone that you trust and tell them about it. Eating disorders don’t just go away, and no matter how good they can make you feel, eventually that good feeling will wear off. Eventually your hair starts falling out, you’re cold all the time, you grow hair all over you body (the body’s attempt to stay warm), and you have no energy for anything. I realize that people need to get help when they’re ready to. But I also know how an eating disorder can destroy your life. If there was something that I could do to make sure that no one ever has to go through what I did, I would do it in a heartbeat. Nobody deserves to suffer like that.
—Arianna, 22

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