Body image is the extent to which you are comfortable in your own skin. It is not superficial and can’t be characterized as merely perceptions of your appearance. Body image is integral to our identities, social interactions, health behaviors and mental health.
[IMAGE]
And yet, the majority of people indicate body image insecurities and body dissatisfaction has been referred to as a “normative discontent” among body image scientists for decades. So what are some things you can do to improve your body image, starting today?
[Read: Body Image and Mental Health]
6 Ways to Improve Your Body Image and Self-Esteem
1. Focus on functionality
‘Our bodies are much more than a façade – they serve vital functions that allow us to live our lives and experience our worlds. Focusing more on what your body does
as opposed to just how it looks can be a useful step towards body positivity.
‘Body functionality is a term used to describe the many physical functions of our bodies: breathing, sleeping, walking, singing, dancing, engaging with other people and anything else a body can do. Although many people feel dissatisfied with their bodies, our bodies aren’t deliberately trying to hold us back from living our lives.
Try making a list of the ways that your body serves you well. Refer back to your list to boost your positive feelings about your body.
2. Practice body appreciation
Do you ever look in the mirror and feel grateful instead of critical?
Research suggests that expressing gratitude for our bodies can actually improve body image. Gratitude allows for an optimistic approach to the world — an appreciation of the positive aspects of your life. Gratitude may improve body image — and well-being in general — because it can lead you to focus on assets rather than deficits and to see elements of your life you may take for granted.
3. Reframe your exercise goals
How you think about physical activity is important to your body image. For example, if you go for a run, but you think of it as obligatory or as punishment, you’re unlikely to enjoy that run. But if you think of running as something you do to help yourself feel good, improve your health and take care of yourself, you might enjoy running more and find it easier to sustain this behavior. You should appreciate your body’s functionality
Punishing or shaming ourselves for not doing all the “right” things is rarely an effective approach to health and can reinforce negative body image.
[Read: Ways to Build Self-Esteem.]
4. Engage in protective filtering
There are many potential triggers of body dissatisfaction, ranging from your mom to your Instagram feed. You can benefit from becoming more aware of how a variety of different people and environments make you feel, and then responding to those feelings in protective ways. Body image researchers refer to this as protective filtering.
For example, you might decide against watching television shows such as The Bachelor, which feature people in objectified roles with a focus on their appearance. You can unfollow social media accounts that always make you feel inferior, which should have the bonus of altering the algorithms and changing the content you see. We can’t protect ourselves from all the people and messages that may make it difficult to maintain a positive body image, but we can practice eliminating many of our personal triggers.
5. Accept what you cannot change
There are many factors that affect your height, size, shape and everything else about your appearance — and many of them aren’t within your control. One large, scientific study found that at least 80% of our height is heritable. In other words, you’re however tall you are mostly due to how tall your biological parents are.
Although weightmay be more easily changed than height, it’s also very much influenced by our genes. Not only are our bodies’ sizes and shapes mostly genetically determined, but our genes influence our tendency to store fat, fat distribution patterns and metabolic efficiency. Recent research suggests that our body size is linked to our appetites, which are also determined by genetics. The bottom line is that our appearances are very much attributable to our genes, and we cannot easily and dramatically transform them to meet cultural beauty ideals — at least without extreme measures such as cosmetic or bariatric surgery.
[READ: What Is Body Inclusivity? Health Benefits of Body-Inclusive Fitness]
6. Reflect on your values
One strategy that body image scientists recommend for body image improvement is to “live what we value.” Start by considering what it is, exactly, that you value. You can start by thinking about what you hope to achieve in your life. Maybe you’re aiming for professional success or maybe you most want to focus on your relationships with others. Consider what you want others to value about you. Are you a reliable friend or co-worker? Are you fun to be around?
It’s unlikely that the people we care about and enjoy are in our lives because of their physical appearance. Living our values can mean embracing our own and other people’s bodies as they are. This might begin with appreciating that some people naturally have relatively small bodies, and some naturally have larger bodies; people’s body sizes are not a direct indication of their habits, health or personality.
Bottom Line
Body image is complicated, and no one strategy is likely to lead to confidence overnight. But replacing some of our insecurities with healthier ways to think about our bodies — and ourselves — can have far-reaching, positive consequences!
This article is adapted from “Adultish: The Body Image Book for Life” by Dr Charlotte Markey (2024; Cambridge University Press).
More from U.S. News
Mind-Blowing Benefits of Exercise: Why Exercise Is Important
Things to Tell Yourself When You’re About to Binge Eat
How to Improve Body Image originally appeared on usnews.com
