Drunkorexia – a new trend among college students that is developing into an eating disorder complete with binging and purging. The term describes behavior in which students skip meals or exercise excessively prior to drinking. They then purge afterward with the intent of cutting down on calories, which they save for alcohol. They also seek to increase the buzz of drinking alcohol.
A new study from the University of Houston found that the behavior is more common than you might think. Researchers surveyed 1,200 students and found that eight of 10 who had drunk heavily at least one night in the past month had engaged in drunkorexic behavior. Purging before or after drinking may include vomiting, using laxatives, skipping meals or exercising heavily.
The practice is not exclusive to women. “Males are just as likely, if not more likely, to engage in these behaviors,” according to lead researcher Dr. Dipali Rinker in an interview with Medscape. “We suspect that this is because men, in general, just tend to engage in riskier drinking behaviors than women.”
One researcher found that the trend is prevalent in nearly 60 percent of female college students, who reported dysfunctional eating habits and weight-control measures at least 25 percent of the time in the last 3 months. This includes skipping meals before a party, drinking low-calorie or sugar free drinks at the event, or exercising heavily afterward. The study found that these disordered eating habits are often used only when alcohol is involved.
Alissa Knight, a Ph.D. student from the University of South Australia who studied this college trend said, “These are dangerous behaviors because evidence shows young female students who are bing drinking on an empty stomach, or after strenuous exercise, have increased alcohol toxicity, which dramatically increases their risk of developing serious physical and psychological health consequences, including brain and heart damage, memory lapses, blackouts, depression, and cognitive deficits.
Knight adds, “Drunkorexia appears to have evolved from the need for young girls to meet possibly the two most prominent social norms for young adults – drinking and thinness.”
The study was published in the journal Australian Psychologist on June 30. It was presented in New Orleans at the annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism.