Body image issues has been widespread for years. The most beautiful person will have at least 1 flaw that they feel their body possesses. It is drastically heightened when that spills over into affecting their emotional and mental stability. Mental and emotional health is badly affected by body image issues, depending on how the person handles it. For me, any doubts or lack of confidence never stemmed from body image issues. For most of my younger years I wished I was taller. I wished I had a 6 pack or whatever. There were times where I didn’t like periods of extra weight that I put on. For me, none of this negatively altered how I viewed or carried myself.
Body image came about because of the way people compared themselves to others. People are exposed to countless images in the media and ads about what the perfect body should look like. These media images and ads become the basis for people’s comparisons, when people start to believe these images and think that their body isn’t substandard. They can suffer from depression, anorexia, bulimia, low self-esteem, and eating disorders.
Many males and females restrict the numbers of calories they eat because they may believe they are overweight even if they are thin. Being underweight is just as unhealthy as being overweight. Being underweight can cause you as many risks as being overweight. People that follow the media’s view on this ideal body image may diet excessively in order to have their body match the images they see. It is agreeable that how we feel about ourselves goes beyond the inner satisfaction with our personality and life choices, but also has to do with our ide of our physical outlook. Body image in this sense is not only sensual but also psychological involving our emotions, imaginations, and perceptions of ourselves.
Family dynamics, mental illness, and other components can contribute to a person’s body image. There are various side effects if a person is not happy with what they see in the mirror. A person can see themselves overweight when they are underweight. How a person feels, compels the image that they see. You cannot turn your negative body thoughts into a positive body image. One always needs to feel good about themselves. Body image has become an enormous problem in today’s society.
Getting the perfect body has become the primary goal of every individual nowadays, but it comes with its bagful of dangers.
People are affecting their health, to look perfect in front of society, forgetting about the nourishments that their bodies require. In the world we live in, society…for far longer than I’ve been alive…have promoted unrealistic body ideas and standards. To achieve these standards; people are going through depression, anger, and self-loathing. Having a healthy body image of yourself is vastly important, because it forms a sustainable pillar for self-esteem.
A website I came across called, Break Binge Eating, provided a bunch of stats about body image issues for 2021…here’s a few that stood out to me:
Around 17% of adolescent boys perceived themselves to be underweight, despite being of normal weight
Multiracial and African American adolescent boys were nearly two times more likely to attempt weight gain than Caucasian adolescent boys
In U.S adult men, 9% reported frequent body checking and 5% reported body image avoidance
In a sample of French university students, more than 85% of the men samples were dissatisfied with their muscularity
Nearly 22% of young men report engaging in muscle-enhancing behaviors, including eating more or differently to build muscle (17%), supplement use (7%), and androgenic–anabolic steroid use (3%)
Around 60% of elderly women (aged 60-70 years) in Austria are dissatisfied with their body and more than half reported restricting their eating as a means to prevent weight gain
In U.S adult women, 23% reported frequent body checking and 11% reported body image avoidance. One large cohort study reported no differences in rates of body dissatisfaction between Caucasian and African-American adult women, with around 50% of the women from each group reporting body dissatisfaction
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