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Category: athletes and eating disorders

Coaching the Whole Athlete: How Coaches Can Better Support Their Athletes On and Off the Field

The relationship between an athlete and their coach is unique and memorable. Sport staff is often highly respected and trusted by their athletes. Unfortunately, this trust can easily be abused. The coaches’ job is to develop elite athletes into champions. However, coaches also have an obligation to protect their athletes, and sometimes this responsibility gets … Read More

Optimizing Sport Performance by Looking Beyond Weight

Athletes are well attuned to the conversations in sport surrounding weight and performance. Whether you’re an athlete, coach, healthcare professional, or fan, you don’t have to look far to observe the narrative in sport that says controlling weight will directly impact performance. Unfortunately, this belief holds many myths and misunderstandings. This narrative is amplified by … Read More

A Letter to Athletes

Dear Athletes Endeavoring to Navigate this Current Global Crisis, To the competitors that were at the height of their careers, retired and recreational athletes, and the aspiring athletes seeking mentorship, guidance and inspiration. What a bizarre time! Honestly, this feels like some sort of twisted episode of the Twilight Zone. This surely is one opponent … Read More

Eating Disorders and Sleep: Implications for Athlete Health and Performance

Eating disorders (ED) have a devastating impact on the health of athletes. EDs are often accompanied by medical complications including, but not limited to, disruption of cardiorespiratory, endocrine, neuropsychiatric, and gastrointestinal functioning. Collectively, the medical complications associated with low energy availability encompass a syndrome known as “Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S)”. In addition to … Read More

Male Runners and Eating Disorders

Written by Ron A. Thompson, PhD, FAED, CEDS Eating disorders are more prevalent in “lean” sports than “non-lean” sports. Lean sports have traditionally included weight-class, aesthetic, and endurance sports. Distance running has been included with endurance sports, although the term “endurance” has recently been replaced with “gravitational.” Gravitational sports are those in which moving the … Read More

Dance Movement Therapy

Written by Daisy Thompson, LMSW, LCDC-I “Dance first. Think later. It’s the natural order.” -Samuel Becket According to the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) dance movement therapy (DMT) is a well-established psychotherapeutic intervention which is based on the empirically supported concept that body, mind, and spirit are interconnected, and that the psychotherapeutic use of movement … Read More

How Eating Disorders Affect Sports Performance

Written by Ron A. Thompson, PhD, FAED, CEDS When talking with athletes and coaches about eating disorders, the question I am often asked is how eating disorders affect sport performance. This is an important question because some athletes tell me that their performance actually improved when they began disordered eating behaviors (i.e., restricted eating, weight … Read More

Unbalanced Exercise in Athletes

Written by Riley Nickols, PhD Sport Psychological Resident, Therapist The Fall season is upon us. As such, students and teachers are in the middle of the school semester and athletes are in the midst of their respective Fall sport. A change in seasons could be a helpful reminder to be aware of changes in exercise … Read More