Body Image and Mental Health
Tags: Love Yourself, Love Your Body, Body Positive, Deserve Love, Think Different

You have ever asked yourself that “why do body image and self-esteem matter?” or “How can I encourage a healthier body image?” Those are questions that have been discussing for a decade. As women, we are all struggling to deal with body insecurities, self-confidence, eating disordered, etc. We stuck with negative thoughts, with a little voice inside our head like “I am not good enough”, “why am I so ugly?”, “why am I so skinny?”, “why am I so fat”, etc. There are always some things that keep you always from being yourself, from loving yourself, and finally, you lost faith in yourself.

Previous studies have shown that body dissatisfaction is associated with several mental disorders (anxiety and depression), psychological distress, and the risk of eating disordered behaviors (Barnes, Dimova, et al.).

Positive body image has been playing an important role in well-being, they can change the way you perceive your value. Body image is both the mental picture that you have of your body and the way you feel about your body. However, the effect of poor body image of mental goes beyond suicidal thinking.

Body dissatisfaction increases when you have negative thoughts about your own body image. Body dissatisfaction can damage physical well-being and an individual’s psychological. And when we begin to define our own self-worth based on our negative body image, which leads to a number of mental health issues can rapidly rise, including eating disorders.

Why do body image and mental health matter?

As mentioned above, body image and mental health directly influence each other, it influences your thoughts, feelings, and your behaviors. If you hate your appearance or dislike some part of your body. It’s difficult to feel satisfied with yourself when you only focus on seeing your flaws, you ignore the good things about yourself and give yourself the respect it deserves.

Negative thinking always leads to more negative thinking, once we start to focus on the negative things, we stop ourselves from seeing the good side of our body, and unconsciously we slightly destroy our mental health. (Please see below an example of what can poor body image lead to).

Good body image, and mental health are not about pleasing yourself and make yourself feel happy. They are about respecting yourself and being realistic as nobody is perfect and you are beautiful just the way you are. (Please see below an example of how a good body image can make a positive impact on your mental health).

How can I love myself more? How can I start giving myself the respect I deserve?

1. You need to treat yourself with respect. You need to have healthy, well-balanced meals, and workouts because it makes you feel stronger and better.

2. Perfection is the new perfection: when you start judging yourself or others based on size or shape. Please remind yourself that nobody is perfect.

3. Dress whatever you feel like.

4. Find a short motivation quote that you feel related to and helps you feel good about yourself then print it out and stick it on the mirror to remind you and boost your positive thoughts.

5. Be friends with those who can realize your uniqueness and appreciate you for who you are.

6. Remember that everyone has enough occupied in their mind.

7. Make a list of the things you like and hate about your body.

8. Try to share with your friends about your negative thoughts, you will feel being heard and listen or send me a message through my Instagram @selfcharmsss and let solve and overcome the problem together. I would love to help you out!

“To fall in love with yourself is the first secret to happiness.”- Robert Morley.

Please treat yourself with kindness! #WeDeserveBetter #RespectYourself #YourBodyDeserveMore #ImperfectionIsPerfection

Please let me know your thought in the comment below!

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P/s: Please feel free to send me DMs on my Instagram @selfcharmsss Let work it out together. I am here for you!!