Eating disorder a given year. Anorexia affects about 0.4% and bulimia affects about 1.3% of young women in a given year. Up to 4% of women have anorexia, 2% have bulimia, and 2% have binge eating disorder at some point in time. Anorexia and bulimia occur nearly ten times more often in females than males. Typically, they begin in late childhood or early adulthood. Rates of other eating disorders are not clear. Rates of eating disorders appear to be lower in less developed countries. Bulimia nervosa is a disorder characterized by binge eating and purging, as well as excessive evaluation of one's
Emotional eating Those who experience this biologically instigated increase in appetite during times of stress are therefore primed to rely on emotional eating as a coping mechanism. Emotional eating differs from actual hunger in a number of ways. Emotional hunger tends to hit quickly and suddenly and feels urgent, yet physical hunger is usually not as urgent or sudden unless it has been a while since a person ate. Someone who is physically hungry will often eat anything, while someone who is emotionally hungry will want something specific, such as fries or a pizza; emotional hunger is usually associated with cravings for