Friday 4 June 2010

Intelligence vs eating disorders. Read on.

I'm not offended by all the dumb-blonde jokes because I know that I'm not dumb. I also know I'm not blonde. 
~Dolly Parton

First, some good news: I got my Mensa membership card today!

My old one expired years ago and I didn't bother renewing it till now:
Woohoo~~

You must know me by my signature study-mode hair style by now - bangs pinned to the back with a blue/purple doggy pin, sometimes with a pony tail, sometimes with my hair down. How could you not, when I have been strutting all around campus for the past few weeks in it?

If you don't remember that look, here are some pictures to refresh your memory:

Study-mode hair-styles.

Please don't ask me why my face is screwed up in all 3 pictures. Kevin made me do it. He threatened that "I dowan fren u anymore" if I didn't.

=(

Haha. Anyways, I have recently found a new, less nerdy way to pin up my bangs. I'm trying to get used to it. Who knows, if I do, it might not be only my study-mode hair style, it might be my semi-permanent shopping/work/lecture/study/leisure style.

I think it looks stylish. Here's a screenshot of the video I learnt it from:



It's pretty simple - just braid your bangs and use bobby pins to pin them to the side of your head. Of course, it only works if your bangs are long enough.

Too bad I'm not good at braiding yet.

Why am I randomly blabbering about hair styles, anyway?

On a side note, I read yesterday from a Triple M mag that several studies have shown that there is a correlation between eating disorders and intelligence.

According to the article, anorexia and bulemia tend to be found in higher socioeconomic-level Western communities. Similarly, people with higher IQ's habitually belong to a higher socioeconomic class. Conversely, a significant amount of obese people are located in a lower socioeconomic level.

According to a study "The Intellectual Functioning of Adolescents with Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa", "The IQ of the eating disordered patients was significantly higher than that of the patients in the comparison group." Again, in another study by Reuters Health, it is also stated  that "people with eating disorders scored significantly higher than average on IQ tests."

The explanation of this phenomena is as such:


In the case of anorexics, an already driven personality that pursues perfection, couples with a high intelligence level and parental/social expectations, may render one vulnerable to adopt patterns of an eating disorder. "Perfectionism, competitivemess, and high performance expectations from others are caracteristics of the gifted that are viewed as possible contributions to the onset of eating disorders," Neihart contends.
- Triple M, October 2009, mensa international journal -

I guess my conclusion would be, those with higher IQ's are more probable to obtain higher statuses (coz of their intelligence, duh), hence living in higher socioeconomic levels (like most of us, I should like to think), and hence being put under the pressure of "pursuing perfection, coupled with a high intelligence level and parental/social expectations."

Okay, okay. I'll summarize it.

Intelligent people have higher chances of developing eating disorders.

Kinda makes you wish you had an eating disorder, no?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hmmm... didn't know you're a mensa member lolz

Happyness Talks said...

Legend: haha no big deal la its ages ago since i joined. i think my IQ must have dropped below the cut off level by now... are u a mensan too?