31. July 2010 by student.

                  This blog is about eating orders ,a growing epidemic esp. under young women. Eating disorders are: Bulimia Nervosa, Anorexia Nervosa, and Obesity . Eating disorders are self-destructive behaviors and can lead to serious health problems and death. People who suffer from eating disorders feel inadequate ,imperfect ,and have anxieties about how other people perceive them. According the mental health statistics, 8 million Americans suffer from eating disorders ,7 million woman and 1 million men. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. People suffering from eating disorders think they can gain approval ,or get better accepted when they are in control of their eating habits.the sociology of the body has become deeply affected by society and the way we view our self. Decades of social and cultural pressures , esp. for women, to live up to “ thin standards “, associated with physical attracteness  , and the current diet industy , all conributed to eating disorders.From early on, society teaches children that looks matter.Now, with children watching more and more T.V. , they receive a superficial sense of what they supposed to look like. Thin women and pumped up men are portrayed as the successful, popular ,sexy and powerful ones. T.V. tells us to loose weight and to be thin ,and  as a result  of those looks  to be beautiful.

         W e shape our social values, behaviors,tastes, and preferences based on what we see in the media.T herefore, we judge people on the basis of their physical appearance ,rather than on the basis of their individual qualities. The body images actors portray on T.V., are not the norm to the average individual.In magazines, super models continue to become thinner and thinner for many suffer from Anorexia. In addition, many models  had plastic surgery and are often taped- up for a photo shoot. Biological,familial,social, and cultural factors play also a part in the development of eating disorders. Family communication patterns and attitudes towards food and fat also play a large role in the development of eating disorders.Lately, a increased amount of boys also have become victims of the disorders.95% of people with eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25.

              Anorexia Nervosa also called” selfstarvation”and is an intense fear of gaining weight and getting”fat” even though the person might be under weight. People that are affected by anorexia refuse to maintain their body weight,and put severe limitations on themselves regarding their food intake. People with anorexia have a so called” distorted body image”. This means that they see them self fat even though they are emaciated. There is a disturbance in the way the body size and shape is perceived. The person deliberately refuses food , and  can  not stop this behavior even when rewarded, or being punished. In the U.S. 1 in 200 women suffer from anorexia,and 5-10% die within 10 years. Above that, 18- 20% anorexics die after 20 years. 30-40% will never fully recover, and 20% will prematurely die from complications related to their eating disorders. Many (female) anorexia sufferers have irregular menstrual periods , or no periods at all. They are at risk for heart faillure ,depression,and suicide. They also may engage in repetive and perfectionist behavior. Early signs of anorexia are; sectet dieting dissatisfaction after losing weight,and setting new and lower weight goals. Young people that suffer from anorexia are usually good students , but are often withdrawn or depressed. Anorexia is in part a reaction to social pressures to be slender ,but this is not the only factor involved. It is statistical proven that 50% of girls between the ages of 11 and 13 see them selves as overweight .In addition,  80% of 13 year olds already try to loose weight.

             Bulimia Nervosa sufferers are overwhelm with shame and have low self-contempt ,low self esteem,and often show signs of depression. those that are affected ,are usually not over weight but are obsesssed with their weight and shape. Bullimia sufferers have re-ocurring episodes of “binge” eating (rapic consumption of large amounts of food in short periods of time). During the bing eating, bulimics take in food  high in calories ,and they do this usually twice a week. The big eating is followed by “purcing”(self induced vomitting),exessive use of laxatives,diuretics,srict dieting, fasting,and vigerous exercise.Statics show that 2or 3 out of 100 American women are bulimic,and that 10-15%  of people with bulimia are male.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 2 Comments »

31. July 2010 by student.

The act of cutting down and burning trees is more commonly known to be a human activity than a natural cause.It is less likely that lightning will cause various bush/forest fires and broken trees as compared to humans.Yes natural factors such as lightning,storms cause big damage to our vegetation and wildlife but not to the extent man does it.Human activities such as mining,agriculture,settlement and building of infrastructure all have been the cause of defforestation worldwide lately.Amazon rainforests have one of the worst scenarios of defforestation in the whole world.They used to cover 14% of the earth’s land surface but now they cover 6% and it is estimated that the remaining rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years.Nearly half of the world’s species of plants,animals and micro-organisms willbe wiped out of existance due to defforestation .Worse still experts say that one and one half acres of rainforests are lost every second thereby making it 137 plants,animals and insect species every single day.We all know that defforestation is disastrous to our environment not only because it causes desertification but we should also put it into mind that the trees and vegetation we destroy have numerous purposes such as provision of medicine and herbs that can cure human diseases.If man continues to cut down trees,there won’t be adequate cures for man’s diseases.The “lungs of our planet”as the amazon is known provide a great service in recycling carbondioxide to oxygen.More than 20% of the world’s oxygen is produced in the amazon rainforests.The U.S . National Cancer Institute has identified 3000 plants that are aceive against cancer cells,70% of which are found in rainforests like the amazon.In otherwords,man is bound to be responsible for wildlife extinction if it is to occur in the coming years or decades like the dinosaurs were wiped out of existance. 

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 2 Comments »

31. July 2010 by student.

Unfortunately for many, home can be anything but a safe place. Men and women similarly may find their home a fierce battleground. For children it may be where they are most vulnerable to be assulted, misused, or deprived, at the very hands of those who’s duty it is to protect and nourish them. Even elderly people may have a reason to fear those who should be their caretakers. We (humans) are social beings: all of our needs are dependent in some way on relationships, especially with those who nurture us from birth. The human brain develops in a way that our stress-response systems are intimately connected to systems that interpret the moods and actions of those around us. When social cues tell us others are calm and safe to be around, our own physiological state is regulated to act accordingly and we relax. On the other hand when we sense those negative threats or emotions, we respond by going on alert.

A stressed state cannot be maintained indefinately without serious mental and physical consequences. Repeated periods of so called “hyper arousal” can cause changes in the neural system that is difficult to reverse. Therefore any human being would feel compelled to abuse and distress another, but it is difficult to understand such inhumanity when it occurs among those who share similar needs, goals, and values within the most radical group in society, the family.

Unfortunately family violence is not at all uncommen, possibly because of the fact that families spend so much time together and have so many emotional ties. But for these same reasons, and because our family impacts our potential as a human beings, family violence may be the most harmful form of violence humans can encounter.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 2 Comments »

31. July 2010 by student.

The world has been industrialized for such a long time now that is from the 18th century .Before the industrialized era,the whole world was an agricultural economy.Some countries especially those in europe changed to an industrialized economy leaving most countries in the “old fashioned economy”.Due to this transformation,these socities experienced social change as well as economic change.It was this change that forced people to adapt to new means of survival.Instead of only depending on the yields from their agricultural products,they now depended on various means of survival as they aquired new skills from their new jobs.They nolonger used their agricultural products for food alone but manufactured other basic products such as peanut butter from groundnuts(peanuts).This change happened in transition as we saw the need for more skilled labour.People started getting educated on how to operate the new machines.All this boosted production and there was a remarkable improvement and development in the economy.However,it seems like the economy today is stagnant and we could be in a change to a more different kind of  economy.We are going to go through another transition probably for another one or two centuries.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 2 Comments »