Eating disorders, psychological disorders shown through abnormal eating habits, is a common and grievous problem that appears more and more on college students. Another usual problem that most college students tends to have is chronic stress. So are these two problems happen randomly or relatively? Does one cause another or they do not affect each other at all?

After doing some researches ｏnline and relating to my own experiences, I came up with the conclusion that chronic stress do cause eating disorders. Lots of studies showed that stressful things and works such as ｓｃｈｏｏｌ　ｗｏｒｋｓ and relationships, bad illness or excessive use of drugs will all have huge influences on eating disorders. I find that most of my stress come from three main parts: difficulty in school, difficulty in relationships and homesickness.

When school first started, and you just moved into your dorm, this is usually the time when we all started to feel alone and to get homesickness because we were all unfamiliar with the new environment and had no new friends. I had a really difficult time during the beginning of the school year under the pressure of dealing with things independently and making new friends. While feeling alone, eating a lot seems to be a good method of releasing the stress because it gives us that satisfaction and stopping us from thinking about unhappy things.

  Once school started and everything got back in track, we started to feel the pressure and stress from school such as grades, homework and exams. The first few weeks were actually fine, but once midterm week came, this is the time when my stress started to appear. I　ｕｓｕａｌｌｙ　ｅｘｐｒｅｓｓ　ｍｙ　ｃｈｒｏｎｉｃ　ｓｔｒｅｓｓ　ｔｈｒｏｕｇｈ　ｄｅｐｒｅｓｓｉｏｎ，　ａｎｘｉｅｔｙ　ａｎｄ　ｓｉｃｋｎｅｓｓ．　Ｉ started not showing up to class and feeling sad and lazy, and I　ｆｉｎｄ　ｔｈｅ　ｅａｓｉｅｓｔ　ａｎｄ　ｆａｓｔｅｓｔ　ｗａｙ　ｔｏ　ｒｅｌｅａｓｅ　ｍｙ　ｓｔｒｅｓｓ　ｉｓ　ｔｈｒｏｕｇｈ　ｅａｔｉｎｇ．　Ｓｏ　Ｉ started to eat a lot of junk food instead of healthy meals.

  When I　ｓａｙ　ｄｉｆｆｉｃｕｌｔｙ　ｉｎ　Ｒｅｌａｔｉｏｎｓｈｉｐｓ，　Ｉ　ｄｏ　ｎｏｔ　ｍｅａｎ　ｄｉｆｆｉｃｕｌｔｙ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｍｙ　ｂｏｙｆｒｉｅｎｄ　ｂｕｔ　Ｉ　ｄｏ　ｎｏｔ　ｅｖｅｎ　ｈａｖｅ　ｏｎｅ．　Ｗｈａｔ　Ｉ　ａｍ　ｓａｙｉｎｇ　ｉｓ　ｔｈｅ　ｐｒｅｓｓｕｒｅ　ｔｈａｔ　ｃｏｍｅｓ　ｆｒｏｍ　ｃｏｕｐｌｅｓ　ａｒｏｕｎｄ　ｍｅ．　Ｉ　ｆｉｎｄ　ｔｈａｔ　ｍｏｓｔ　ｃｏｌｌｅｇｅ　ｓｔｕｄｅｎｔｓ　ａｒｅ　ｃｏｕｐｌｅｓ　ｗｈｉｃｈ　ｄｅｐｒｅｓｓｅｄ　ｍｅ　ａ　ｌｏｔ．　Ｉｎ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｃａｓｅ，　ｄｅｐｒｅｓｓｉｏｎ　ｄｏ　ｃａｕｓｅ　ｅａｔｉｎｇ　ｄｉｓｏｒｄｅｒ．

Ｈｏｗｅｖｅｒ，　ｔｈｅｒｅ　ａｒｅ　ａｌｌ　ｋｉｎｄｓ　ｏｆ　ｃｏｎｎｅｃｔｉｏｎｓ　ｂｅｔｗｅｅｎ　ｃｈｒｏｎｉｃ　ｓｔｒｅｓｓ　ａｎｄ　ｅａｔｉｎｇ　ｄｉｓｏｒｄｅｒｓ．

Ｓｏｕｒｃｅｓ：

１.　　https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1WLXB_enUS526US526&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=eating%20disorder%20definition

２.　http://www.mirasol.net/mood-disorders/chronic-stress.php