Eating disorders have become the third most common chronic illness among the adolescent age group ranging from 10 -25 years of age, and in recent years media has become a main source of why boys and girls feel unhappy with the way they look .(364). Median includes television, internet, and magazines in which they are exposed to the perfection of celebrities. The years specified as the time of adolescence are viewed as the most emotional and influential years of a teen's life because they are changing physically and their hormones cause them to be confused about who they are. During this time, they absorb how peers and celebrities act and look, which cause them to want to blend into the norm. Media has become a source of their confusion because they are exposed to the unrealistic idea of the perfect body and this has become a main reason for eating disorders to develop. .
The subject of eating disorders have been a problem for teens throughout history because of the fact that during this time they are so emotionally confused and their biggest concern is to feel accepted among their peers. The two main eating disorders to be concerned with are anorexia nervosa and bulimia because it is a person completely depriving themselves of nutrition. Anorexia nervosa is characterized by an obsession with food and being thin. Obsession is not to be confused with the idea of actually enjoying the food and eating healthy in order to be thin, but actually is the idea of worrying about every bit of food that is consumed and then depriving themselves of food to be thin. In order to be diagnosed as an anorexic, an individual must be 15 percent under body weight and also tend to constantly bring up the fear of gaining weight. They also tend to have a distorted body image, where they see fat on themselves where it is actually completely absent. Anorexia can cause many health threatening effects such as low blood pressure, pulse, and breathing rate.
