Body image - each and every one of us has one. There seems to be no way to avoid having feelings about the way that we look. After all it is part of human nature. It’s quite normal to like some aspects of your body and to not like others. How you think and feel about your body and how you think that others might perceive you is body image, your attitude towards your own body.
A positive body image is a healthy one. It’s being comfortable in your own skin, being happy with the way you look, and feeling good about yourself. The urge to make changes to any of your physical features is absent in the face of a positive body image. It’s an image that is based on reality, seeing yourself as you really are, accepting who you are, and being generally happy with the way you look and feel. A negative body image, on the other hand, is an unhealthy one. This occurs when an individual views themselves as being not good enough and feel inadequate when they compare themselves to others.
Comparing themselves to others is something that those with a negative body image do more often than those with a positive one. Often those with such a body image are not being realistic and seeing themselves for what and who they really are. According to psychologists, the persistence of such a negative perception of oneself over a long time period could be the sign of a very real and serious problem.
Dissatisfaction with body image is something that has traditionally been well documented with female university students worldwide, but has become increasingly associated with male students in more recent times.
Disordered dieting and exercise patterns are adopted by many in attempts to make themselves thinner, most common in females, or to make themselves bigger, often associated with males.
In attempts to lose weight, many females with a negative body image take up unhealthy practices to control their diet such as skipping meals, following fad diets, and smoking to decrease appetite.
Male students have been increasingly adopting health-damaging body image-related behaviours to increase their weight and size including excessive weight lifting, over-eating (in particular of protein), and steroid abuse.
What Causes Negative Body Image?
Many factors shape our body image, it just does not develop on its own. Family and friends, cultural backgrounds, advertising, and celebrities have each played a role from an early age as to how we view ourselves.The media has had a major influence in unhealthy body image. On a daily basis we are bombarded with images of unrealistic and unobtainable photo-shopped bodies.
Body Image- Lets look at the real picture
Kieran Ryan MPH
Health Matters Evaluation & Support Worker