Eating Disorders – Should Gyms do More to Help
The eating disorder charity Beat has stated that it feels gyms should do more to spot clients with eating disorders and their tendency to over train in the gym. In the video below the reporter talks to Lindsay who suffered from a eating disorder and turned to over exercising when she felt she wasn’t losing enough weight because other people were in control of her food intake. The reporter also talks to Susan Ringwood from Beat who states that gyms should be doing more as they already test for other physical problems like heart complaints and asthma and Beat would like gyms to do the same with eating disorders.
Watch the clip
Should gyms do more?
It is not difficult to test for potential eating disorders. By taking someone’s BMI or Body Fat % even the least skilled gym instructor will be able to tell when someone’s body fat % or BMI result is dangerously low. However this is a test that a lot of gyms already incorporate as part of the result-based goals they set for their clients. What isn’t in place is a procedure to educate the client that they need to see a doctor for further help and tests.
If a new client has high blood pressure then the usual protocol will be that they need to get an all clear from their doctor before they can exercise at the gym, or they need to fill out a disclaimer taking full responsibility for their own health whilst training at the gym. If there was a similar disclaimer for those who are dangerously thin and could be suffering from an eating disorder then they could be treated in the same way as those with dangerously high blood pressure and could train together with no further questions asked. So as it stands at the moment yes, gyms should do more and maybe in some cases take their clients physical health more seriously.
Is Beat right?
Personally I think they are right to bring this to the gyms’ attention, however it is not realistic to compare the tests for high blood pressure and asthma to eating disorders. For the main part high blood pressure and asthma are physical results created by physical problems e.g. high blood pressure caused by a poor diet and lack of exercise. Eating disorders in the main are the physical result of a mental disorder. It would be completely inappropriate for gyms to offer advice on people’s psychological problems when they are only trained to deal on a very basic level with physical problems.
What do gyms offer now?
If a client is very underweight and the tests for the client show either a dangerously low BMI or body fat % then usually it falls to the quality of the tester what would happen next. For the most part the only advice they would be able to give would be that the client needs to eat more. Whilst that response will probably have Beat tutting there is not a lot more that can be done other than all gyms having to employ a psychiatrist to test extreme cases. Most gyms already offer basic tests to alert for eating disorders, but how that is handled is down to the individual gym staff doing the test as it is with high blood pressure and asthma tests. At the end of the day the client can sign a disclaimer and carry on training. Gyms can only advise at present and I think they should not try and be doctors and offer more than that.
What do we think?
We are slap bang in the middle on this one, balancing on that proverbial fence and not really sure where we are going to fall. We completely understand where Beat are coming from and with more awareness then hopefully more people with eating disorders will get spotted sooner. However the gyms shouldn’t be held responsible for what the client does with their advice and seeing as the potential client manages to hide the eating disorder from their family and work colleagues, it is unlikely that a busy gym with over a thousand members will be able to easily spot someone with this problem.
If the gym flagged up everyone who was training 5 times per week or more you will be amazed at the number of gym members who would fall into that bracket but who do not have an eating disorder – which makes identifying and monitoring eating disorders much more difficult. That said if we can train up gym staff and establish a definite protocol for potential eating disorders then people are going to be more aware and surely that is a good thing?
What do you think?
Maybe you have a stronger opinion on this than we do; maybe you have an eating disorder and feel that gyms need to take more responsibility and that you would listen to their advice; maybe you work for a gym or manage a gym and know that these people will still be able to slip under the net. Please let us know your thoughts and where you stand on this subject. Hopefully with more conversation on the subject we can do our small part to bringing this topic to light.
If you have an eating disorder and don’t feel you have the support you need then please visit Beat’s website here
