A feeling of satiety after watching a video of a mountain of ramen noodles being eaten in earnest… Even elementary and junior high school students are reduced to skin and bones by “the shivering reality of the desire to lose weight.

Did you know that one of the eating disorders, “Anorexia Nervosa,” has been under-recognized in recent years?

Currently, there are Teenagers Late teens to 20’s to 20’s It is now not only in people in their late teens and twenties, but also in junior high school and even elementary school students.

The Internet is full of information that encourages the onset of neurogenic emaciation. Video sites are lined with videos created by amateurs explaining how to lose weight, social networking sites are filled with posts and comments praising women who are clearly too thin, and several kinds of unidentified weight-loss pills directly imported from abroad are sold. …… I myself have been diagnosed with neurogenic emaciation.

I myself have been shown videos of extremely skinny women dancing by women with neurogenic emaciation and told, “I want to look like this. To me, she looked like a person on the verge of starvation, all skin and bones, but I guess she saw it differently.

Japan’s “overweight population” is the highest among developed countries.

Japan has the highest percentage of “overweight population” among developed countries in the OECD for both men and women. This is especially true for women, who are on par with developing countries in Asia and Africa.

A doctor in the field said, “In the past, patients with neurogenic emaciency were treated for their weight loss.

In the past, patients with neurogenic emaciation were in their late teens and early twenties. In the past, patients with neurogenic emaciation ranged from their late teens to In the past, most of the patients with neurogenic emaciation were women in their late teens to 30s. In the past, most of the patients with neurogenic emaciation were women in their late teens to thirties. However, in recent years, we have also seen patients in elementary school. Although they are not that aware of it, parents and school teachers often notice it and bring them to the hospital.

In Japan, the annual number of In Japan, more than 200,000 people a year suffer from eating disorders. It is estimated that more than 200,000 people visit medical institutions for eating disorders each year in Japan, but the number of specialized medical institutions is surprisingly small.

Last January, Kohnodai Hospital of the National Center for Global Health and Medicine opened the “National Support Center for Eating Disorders: Consultation Hotline. We interviewed Dr. Keisuke Kawai, a doctor at the hospital, and Masako Nakano (pseudonym), a nurse in charge of consultation.

The hospital’s consultation hotline receives a steady stream of calls four times a week on the first day of operation. Thirty percent of the calls are from the patients themselves, nearly 60% are from their parents, and the rest are from educators such as school nurses.

— “I’ve been eating and I keep eating and regurgitating, but I can’t help myself anymore.

— I can’t help myself anymore. （I can no longer go to school (because I am too skinny).

— I want to go to the hospital. I want to go to the hospital, but I am too weak to walk.

— My daughter is shutting herself away and not eating. My daughter is withdrawn, not eating anything, what should I do?

— My daughter is withdrawn and won’t eat anything, what should I do? Is there any risk in having a student with an eating disorder attend my physical education class?

Average 20 ～Average 20 40 During a one-minute consultation, sincere concerns come up one after the other.

Neurogenic emaciation, often seen in adolescent females, is actually a dangerous disease with a mortality rate of 5%. Rather than leading to immediate death, It is not an immediate fatal condition, but rather a disease that lasts up to 10 years. Rather than leading to death immediately, it is more likely to last up to 10 years, after which the patient may die from starvation, arrhythmia, or suicide.

Excessive weight loss with little awareness

A detailed analysis of the content of the consultations received by the Consultation Hotline reveals an even more serious reality. Kawai explains: “Neurogenic emaciation is a condition in which a person has a tendency to lose weight.

Neurogenic emaciation is mainly caused by excessive dieting by young women who are trying to lose weight. The low body weight causes a loss of energy, immobility, and mental and physical abnormalities. They may become immobile or develop mental and physical abnormalities.

How thin a person is is measured by the BMI index. The problem is that people who are at a life-threatening level are less aware that they are too thin. Objectively speaking, the person is becoming too thin to lead a daily life, but he or she believes that he or she is becoming more and more beautiful, so there is no sense of crisis and the person is unable to stop dieting.

In general, a BMI of18.5 or below 5 or below is considered “underweight. The most serious of these is a BMI of 15 or below (height 160cm and weighing 30 kg) and are in mortal danger. ) and are in danger of losing their lives.

In the same way, people with a BMI below 15 are less likely to feel threatened than those with a BMI of around 18. Therefore, the percentage of people who seek advice is lower for those with a BMI below 15, and less than 40% of the calls to the “Hotline” are from the person themselves. By the way, 15 The number of those below 15 is less than 10 40% are in their teens, 20% in their 20s, 20% in their 20s, and 20% in their 30s. 20% are in their 20s, 30s in their 20s, 50% in their 30s1.50 % of the respondents were in their 30s. The younger age groups are prominent, with 20% in their 20s and 50% in their 30s.

Kawai explains the factors that contribute to the onset of neurogenic emaciation.

There is no single factor that causes this disease. There are many factors, such as the diet craze and episodes of loss of self-confidence in one’s own self-worth. However, it is a fact that the idea that ‘thin people are more beautiful’ is a major inducement for young women to go on diets. So they start dieting because they are concerned about how they look in the eyes of others, and they can’t stop as they lose more and more weight.

These trends have been observed in the The ’80s and ’90s The media’s glorification of skinny idols as beautiful in the 1980s is said to have been the catalyst for this trend. Young children admired them and imitated them. These days, I believe the influence of the Internet, as well as TV idols, has had a tremendous impact.’

In recent years, the proliferation of social networking sites has led women to expose their appearance to the world through images. Now that image editing has become commonplace, images of skinny women abound, and this has influenced some people to go on excessive diets. This is not surprising, since the thinner they are, the more “likes” they receive and the more comments they receive.

There is also a growing trend for extreme dieters to form communities on social networking sites. They follow hashtags to find diet friends and engage in friendly competition to lose weight. In the process, they lose their inhibitions and unknowingly cross the line.

The Internet is also flooded with dangerous and erroneous diet information. There are methods such as vomiting using over-the-counter tubes, introducing drugs prescribed for other ailments as diet pills, and taking drugs imported from private sources that are not effective or safe.

Some medical professionals who claim to be experts also disseminate unreliable information. There are times when healers who are not well known in the academic community in this field are disseminating less than objective information about the definition and treatment of eating disorders, such as on hospital websites and videos. The Internet has the disadvantage of not being able to censor it. Viewers are led to believe that since a medical professional is saying it, it must be true.

Only the sound of chewing echoes.

Furthermore, there are videos on the Internet that can be called “simulated food experiences for people with eating disorders. When I once interviewed a woman with anorexia nervosa, she showed me a video, saying, “This is a video I watch every day.

The video showed an obese middle-aged man sitting on the floor of his house and eating a pile of ramen noodles. The ramen noodles were stretched out and the room was cluttered like a garbage dump. The only sound was the slurping and chewing of the noodles for several minutes. I could not understand why I was watching.

But then a woman with a nervous emaciation said.

When I watch this, I feel like I’ve eaten a full bowl of ramen and I’m satisfied. It’s a very popular video.

Indeed, the video has been viewed The number of views of the video exceeded 100,000. The number of views exceeded 100,000. There are many such videos on the Internet that can be called simulated food experiences, Kawai says.

Kawai says, “There is no danger that all the information on the Internet is wrong.

Not all information on the Internet is wrong or dangerous, and it makes sense to use it effectively. However, when we look at young patients, there are cases where they put their lives at risk or give up on treatment by accessing incorrect information.

Many of them get this disease because they are young, have some challenges, and are constantly aware of their insecurities. So it may be that they are more likely to be misled by straws or misinformation in the Internet than those who are not. Or perhaps they feel a temporary sense of togetherness or security by accessing such information late at night.

That is why professional organizations must disclose correct information, give appropriate advice, and connect the patient to a reliable medical institution. That is what our consultation hotline is for.”

In Japan, most women have an aesthetic sense that thinness is beautiful. That does not mean that all of them have neurotic emaciation. Those who cross the line often have their own reasons for doing so.

What are the causes that separate the two? Commonly seen are traumatic experiences at home or school, such as child abuse, bullying, young caregivers, and corporal punishment. Such negative factors can drive people to excessive and dangerous diets, putting their lives at risk. In a sense, it is a reflection of the dark side of modern society.

The line between a mere desire to lose weight and the development of a neurological emaciation disorder is there.

In Part 2, we will examine this mechanism and its treatment.

The National Support Center for Eating Disorders: Consultation National Support Center for Eating Disorders: Consultation Hotline

Phone: 047-710-8869 Phone: 047-710-8869

Hours: Tuesday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. 3:00 p.m. Hours: Tuesday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (except holidays, year-end and New Year holidays, and Bon holidays)