University of Wisconsin La Crosse - La Crosse Yearbook (La Crosse, WI)

Page 15 text:

- Bob Hammerstrom for fitness in the l80ls But are Americans exercising for the right reasons? Probably not. Exercis- ing won't work if it is just to look good for that gorgeous guy in your history class or so that girl studying in the library will notice your bulging biceps. People should be exercising to improve their circulation, among other reasons. Like everything, though, Americans seem to take looking healthy to the extreme. In order to look really healthy, we visit tanning salons, spending an average of $7 per visit. What about the dangers of aging, skin cancer, and burning? No such chances with tanning salons. Tanning beds donlt contain the burning or aging rays that the sun does. But what does a dermatologist say about tanning beds? According to Dr, Dean Martalock, a dermatologist at Skemp-Grandview Clinic in La Crosse, there is no such thing as a safe tan. All ultra-violet rays are potentially damaging. Tanning salons are actually a trade off with the sun. It is less damaging if it is done slowly - as in a salon - than if you suddenly spend three hours in the sun. He also says that all the ultra- violet rays add up, contributing to permanent aging. If fitness is just a fad then, like other fads, it will pass. In the mean time, however, at least the efforts of Americans are having positive effects on their bodies. Only in America can you find an industry making more than $900 million on getting people in shape through the use of video cassettes, apparel, and books. And where else but American can you buy a jump rope for $29.95 Uike the rope your dad cut from your mom's clothesline when you were a kidl. No longer is the motivation to be healthy enough. Now you also need to buy overpriced equipment that is so specialized that you need a pair of shoes for every activity you do. Bumper tennis just won't do anymore. - Kristin Brouwer - Bob Hammerstrom 11

Page 14 text:

10 - Alfonso Tobar - Greg Behrendt Bumper tennis won,t do Recently, I went to a track meet. As I sat there, watching a few women run around the track sixteen times ifor a total of two milesl, I began to wonder why someone would want to push her body to that length just to win a race. What was the point? Americans are becoming fitness fanatics and fitness is the fad of the eighties. We want to look good and feel good. We exercise to be beautiful iafter we're done sweating of coursel. We keep fit by running, biking, lifting weights, aerobic dancing, jumping rope, and so on. Aerobic dance seems to have really taken off. America, in june of 1984, had 22.7 million aerobic dancers. I would say that the majority of them were dressed in designer leotards, tights, and leg warmers, all color coordinated. When did gym classes become amateur fashion shows? It seems to me that many women are more concerned about looking good while exercising than attaining the benefits of the exercxse. That brings me to the benefits of Aerobic dance. Besides toning muscles, aerobics are a fantastic way to shape up your Cardiovascular system. A untrained college student's cariovascular system is similar to that of middle-aged runner. And you thought there weren't any advantages t growing old. Now to move on to another extremely popular form of exercise: runningll Not yogging, running. No one jogs anymore Could this be an indication of how fast- paced our American lifestyle is? Why running? It requires practically no equipment and can be done jus about anywhere. Running also develops our cardiovascular endurancet But the best thing about running is that it can decrease the factors leading to heart attacks. l

Page 16 text:

12 Eating disorders may affect 3570 of UW-L women Recently, bulimia, the disorder involving the binge and purge cycle, is causing counselors on college campuses a great deal of concern. USA Today has called it the New fad disorder of the 805, while Newsweek reports, Pigging out and vomiting is treated as if it were the latest fad. Bulimia differs from anorexia, characterized by self-starvation, in that bulimics eat excessive amounts of food and then use either laxatives, diuretics or vomiting to purge themselves. A UW-La Crosse student who had bulimia explains the extent of her disorder, At my peak of the disorder, I was throwing up about four times a day, and if I didn't throw up, it was because I hadn't eaten anything. I was taking about a box of diet pills, diuretics and caffeine pills each week. I was also going through a box of laxatives every day. The eating disorder bulimia, may affect as many as 35 percent of the women on the UW-L campus, according to a recent study conducted here. The study found that 17.5 percent of the women on the UW-La Ctosse campus answered questions indicating they had bulimia. Another 17.5 percent showed symptoms of this eating disorderi and could be affected by it. This means that at least 800 women on the UW-L campus are affected by the disorder and as many as 1600 may be affected. The 17.5 percent Figure is in line with recent research which shows that nationally, bulimia effects 20 percent of the women attending college. The typical target for the eating disorders, anorexia and bulimia, sounds like a description for the Girl Most Likely to Succeed. The disorders usually affect ambitious, young, white, middle-class women. They are often perfectionists with low self-esteem. Often times bulimics and anorexics come from overprotective or abusive homes where they were not able to develop their own identity. I was anorexic for a year until my mom sat at the table and made me eat. So I figured fine, I Can throw it up. What a ticket! This opened up a whole new dimension on food. That was six years ago that this UW-L student became a bulimic. Her battle would not end until she was hospitalized. She began to use food as a coping mechanism when she was a high school freshman. I was athletic and just started dieting with three other friends. But I dove into it and they didn't . . . If I did something in life, I - Bob Hammerstrom always did it better than anyone else. This bulimic, like most bulimics, admits that she is a perfectionist. This bulimic may not have had all the traits of the typical bulimic, but she appears to be like most who are affected by the disorder. She is a white, athletic female who felt tremendous family pressures. I was the person everyone always looked up to; the one who had everything going for her in high school; the one who never had a problem. I was willing to go to all ends to please my friends; I always had the 'luck on my side'; we were the outstanding family'; I was a people-pleaser and appeared confident. According to Dr. Louis W. Stamps of the UW-L psychology department, persons are Clinically defined as bulimics once they eat excessive amounts of food and then purge themselves. Thus, many women, and some men, fit the clinical definition of this eating disorder. This bulimic was seen by others as having it all together. But, she said, I am sensitive, lonely, scared and unsure of myself, have a lot of emotions . . and I'm not a good coper. To add to the pressure she already felt, she felt she had to keep up the facade she had Created for everybody. Her struggle can be seen in her journal entry of June 2, 1983, the day before she sought help and was admitted to the hospital: Where's the hope? Where's the source for the sparkle and sunshine they all see in me? I'm completely drained, yet I keep trying to please them. I'm the shadow trying to be that image they so admire. Dear l God, I'm tired of pretending when I only want to explode. Why can't they see the emptiness behind this facade? Please let the show be over. For her, it was soon over when she was admitted to the hospital for medical and psychological treatment. Researchers have come up with one broad cause for the disorder: social pressure. They cite more specific pressures affecting bulimics such as high expectations from parents and family, the pressure to gain control over their own lives, the pressure from increased responsibilities when leaving home, increased academic pressure and media and social pressures to be thin. These pressures often lead the bulimic or anorexic to feel they don't have much control over aspects of their lives. To gain some control, they often times resort to controlling what goes in and out of their bodies.