“Megarexia” is increasing among young men

It has become more and more common among young people to start working out at a fitness centre. A report from NOVA at OsloMet on youth sports participation from last year states that young people have never exercised more than they do now. Boys in particular train more now than they did before. Many will see this as an exclusively positive development, but more and more are now being faced with the dark side of this training focus. Body pressure Someone who literally felt it on his body is Vetle Olsen-Ryum. – I trained three to four hours every day. It was like a mosquito bite that you had to scratch, and if I didn’t reach all my goals or didn’t feel like I was big enough, I couldn’t sleep. Olsen-Ryum struggled for several years with what is known as “megarexia”, or muscle dysmorphia. The only thing that mattered to Vetle Olsen-Ryum was body and training. All self-esteem was linked to the training. Photo: Kai Rune Kvitstein / n637485 A person with megarexia is driven by building muscles, and getting bigger and stronger – so much so that it becomes morbid. It is not an eating disorder in itself, but often it can degenerate into one. – My whole everyday life was centered around how I went in training and how I myself thought I looked in the mirror. And maybe if I had gotten some complements on my body. I thought it was normal, says Olsen-Ryum. Influenced by social media Advice on eating disorders (Ros) finds that the number of boys and men who turn to them increases with each passing year. Linda Olsen puts some of the blame on social media and unattainable body ideals. Antidoping Norway reports that from 2022 to 2023 the number of inquiries to the Doping Contact increased by 62 per cent. Head of department in Antidoping Norway, Linda Olsen, is concerned about the development. – It can potentially have significant health damage for the individual. But it also has some consequences for society at large, and the next of kin. All news have spoken to point to social media as a trigger for the increase in boys and men with megarexia. – We see that many people get inspiration from social media. They look at bodybuilders, athletes, and other people who have the body they want. And they want it quickly, says Olsen. Vetle Olsen-Ryum says he himself was very influenced by social media. – My algorithms were just a lot of training videos of such steroidal influencers that were impossible for me to achieve. It made me feel like crap when I didn’t look like them. When training takes over But when does training become unhealthy? According to Irene Kingswick, general secretary of Ros, exercise becomes morbid when it starts to overshadow larger and larger parts of your ordinary everyday life. According to Irene Kingswick, it is difficult to decide exactly when the training goes too far. If you isolate yourself to exercise, it is quite possible that you need help. Photo: Brynjar Mangor Myrtveit Osgjerd / news If you choose to cut back on other hobbies and time with friends and family because you have to train, it may be a sign that the training has taken over. – When you notice that training takes up so much focus in your everyday life that it overshadows most of the other things you did previously, then it is a destructive relationship with training, says Kingswick. That was exactly how Olsen-Ryum lived her life for several years. He dropped pizza nights with his friends because he had to train and watch how much protein he should consume during the day. – It is completely absurd to look back on. They cared about how big I was, they just wanted to be with me. But when eating disorders take control, you don’t think like that, unfortunately. – You forget who you are Olsen-Ryum is healthy today, and now trains because he wants to and not because he feels he has to. He thanks Ros for helping him out of a hopeless situation. – You forget who you are when you are sick. That’s why we need organizations like Ros and people around society to ask how you are, and especially if you’re a boy. Olsen-Ryum is now a volunteer at Ros himself, and spends his time helping others as he helped the organisation. He believes it is a myth that boys cannot get eating disorders, which he is very keen to debunk. – It is difficult to realize as a boy that you have a problem, because boys are supposed to be big, strong and healthy. When I hunted for it, no one reacted negatively. Published 27/07/2024, at 09.43



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