Why is Media Literacy crucial to maintaining a healthy Body Image?

The world of social media is different from your off line life and the number of “likes” you get on a post is not a barometer for how liked you are in real life.

Online community vs real friends : There is a BIG difference.

• Platforms like Instagram and Snapchat are the worst for impacting mental health.

• People report feeling bad about themselves after spending too much time on them.

• The visual imagery we are bombarded with is often the highlight reel of people’s lives, not their actual reality and what they do “ behind the scenes”

• Be mindful of what you watch and how you consume MEDIA. Have periods when you UNPLUG.

• Have REAL conversations. Talk to girls about beauty ideals, analyze pictures, learn about airbrushing and photoshopping techniques.

Talk about how beauty/diet industries are heavily marketed and by pushing their products, contribute to making women feel insecure so that they will buy more. A new lipstick is always fun but be mindful

Choose the people you follow wisely - I cannot stress this enough.

• Do they make you feel good about yourself and your body? Do they inspire you and make you feel positive and happy?

• Or do you find that you constantly compare yourself to them and criticize yourself for not looking a certain way, like they do.

• Don’t forget most of the time even they don’t look like they do. :)

How do you recognize signs of negative Body Image in yourself or others? How do you support someone displaying those signs?

Let’s remember that we all have an element of a distorted view of our bodies as well as complicated relationships with food.

All of the following are “normal” to a certain degree:

-Experiencing body dissatisfaction, being preoccupied with body weight, shape or appearance

-Struggling with feelings of depression, isolation, low self-esteem and/or disordered eating due to body dissatisfaction

-Having shame, anxiety, and self-consciousness about your body

-Frequently comparing your body to others and feeling that your body is flawed

RED FLAGS are:

-Obsession with body size and shape

-Extreme weight loss

-Refusal to eat, denial of hunger even when starving

-Labeling foods as good or bad. 

-Fixate on eating foods that give a feeling of being healthy

-Obsessively going to the gym

How to support:

-The most important thing is to Notice changes in behaviour

-Begin conversations if you see someone is not him/herself 

-Build self-esteem and confidence; there is more to being a human than what you look like

-Celebrate diverse shapes and individuality

-Praise the actions of the body not the appearance, function OVER form

-Take the focus off numbers on a scale - encourage balance between healthy eating and exercise

-Talk about Appetite awareness

• Practice intuitive eating: I like to call it appetite awareness, being mindful and listening to hunger cues letting us know to eat when we are hungry and stop when we are full

• Notice emotional eating which happens when we are not able to confront certain feelings so we eat instead: am I hungry for food or do I need something else?

• Watch your language - avoid labeling foods as “good vs. naughty”  and talking about “what to avoid”. Aim for balance and moderation.

Who is most at risk of suffering from Body Image Issues? What impact does this have on people?

Everyone is affected by Body Image - having a body means you have body image. In the same way, we all have mental health. The degree to which we are impacted depends on how much influence the feelings of falls somewhere on the spectrum and the impact body image has on people varies depending on where they fall.

The specific populations such as cancer patients, burn victims, people with dermatological issues, disabled individuals, and anyone in the spotlight (ex athletes, dancers, models) etc. People going through developmental changes are also at a higher risk of developing body image issues, such as transitioning from adolescence to adulthood, getting pregnant, ageing. 

Bodies are always changing, and how we adjust to those changes has everything to do with how we feel and how we look, this is particularly strong in adolescence. Body image cannot be escaped - having a body means we all have a body image. How we feel about our bodies is what differs from person to person.

What Influences Body Image?

Body image is a complex phenomenon and rarely boils down to just one thing.  It can be shaped by an individual's mind set and biology, the influence of industry (food, fashion, fitness and beauty), media (traditional media, social media, advertising world), influencers (peer groups, family) and the society and culture we live in. 

Gender is a major sociological factor when considering body image and its impact on people. Body image has traditionally been viewed as more of a female issue, but increasingly we see boys and men struggling with their body image too.

The Food, Fashion, Fitness and Beauty industries also all impact our body image to a greater or lesser extent. Depending on where we fall on the spectrum, how these industries affect us will vary. They prey on our weaknesses especially around fitting in and they convince us that we need to buy the latest and greatest item to keep up with the ever-changing trends.

With the omnipresence of advertising, plastic surgery has become an enormous influence on society. It is easily accessibility (you can now have Botox done at superdrug) which is contributing to reasons why plastic surgery is being done with very little thought. 

Media - what a powerful influence … on us all. There is much greater access to media than ever before – social media keeps us informed of every move people make. With all that exposure comes a widespread dissemination of attitude that “perfection” is attainable. People feel pressure to be thin and to resemble celebrities. However, most if not all of these photos are edited, and whilst it seems as though “perfection” is attainable, this sadly results in almost half (45%) feeling ashamed about the way they look.

Some of the key influencers in a young persons life are friends, parents, teachers and coaches.. The people you surround yourself with influence you both positively and negatively. Being mindful about how you feel in people’s presence can help you when choosing who to surround yourself with. 

What is Body Image and why is it so important?

Body image is defined as how we see our physical selves and how that impacts us emotionally. Simply put: body image is how we think and feel about our bodies.

This can include a person’s thoughts and feelings about their weight, shape, skin colour, size, height, and their overall appearance. What WE see may be very well different from how others see us. BODY IMAGE is a very subjective experience. Amazingly, two people could look identical (twins) but have a very different body image.

Body image is so important because it impacts your self-esteem and ultimately how you come to know and accept yourself. This directly impacts our mental health. The body and mind here are totally interlinked. 

However, I believe body image needs to be understood on a spectrum - With mild and normative issues around the body on one side and increasing severity leading to Body dysmorphic disorders and eating disorders on the other side.

Having a positive body image ensures you have a healthy relationship with food and exercise and the reverse is true too. When you have a healthy relationship with food and exercise, this enables you to feel more positive about your body. These elements feed into each other and help you to feel better both inside and out. It gives you the confidence to be your authentic self.

Mental Health Awareness Week 2019

As a body image specialist working in this field for over 20 years, I am so happy that Mental Health Awareness Week has chosen to focus on body image as the theme this year.

By acknowledging Body Image as a mental health issue, The Mental Health Foundation can help us begin to make way for the conversations and strong connection between our emotional and physical selves - the body and mind. How we feel about how we look has a huge impact on how we feel about ourselves overall.

This is such an important week and feels like a real opportunity to share with you the research, the process I use in therapy, the work behind the scenes, and topics I am asked most about when doing corporate or school talks.

I am passionate about and proud to have been doing this work for many years before “Body Image” was even a term and even more proud to be sharing my experience of what I have learned and come to know as “all things body image”. 

Over the course of the week, I will be posting some of my content each day in order to inform and raise awareness around Body Image. I will cover topics such as: 

-What is body image?

-What influences body image?

-Who is most at risk?

-How to recognize signs in yourself and others

-How to support someone displaying those signs

-The importance of media literacy for a healthy body image.

I hope you will find the daily posts useful and would love your feedback so please leave comments! Stay tuned on my website for blog posts and several exciting projects that I’ve been working on :) link in bio.

Holli x