Whatever your age, race, gender, many of you reading this will have experienced struggles with remaining body positive.
The way a person (particularly the younger generation) perceives themselves is often influenced by the media, idealising petite women and muscular men. A survey by The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery found that more than 40% of women and 20% of men admitted to considering cosmetic surgery – this remaining relatively constant across gender, ages and race.
Encountering stress, depression and anxiety during the course of university isn’t unusual. This means a student’s mental health should be of the utmost importance to the university. Many, if not all universities in the UK offer support services to those facing issues such as body image and feeling negatively about their appearance. Body image is a problem that is often disregarded, despite the fact that 50% of women use unhealthy behaviours to control their weight and 37% of men experience binge eating depression, according to figures from The Body Image Center.
The University of Durham have a society dedicated to ‘Spreading self-love’. It aims to challenge beauty ideals, promote realness and combat negative body image.
What is body positivity?
Being body positive is the acceptance of the body you have, along with the acceptance of the changes in shape and size you will endure as your life progresses.
Tips for becoming body positive:
- Recognise that we all come in different shapes and sizes, the media portrays unrealistic images of what we ‘should’ look like and we see them every day. But the reality of it is, they are not real either, what you are admiring has probably been edited.
- Meditate! Meditation has been proven to help with mental struggles such as this. Download an app e.g. Calm or Simple Habit and try it for a few minutes a day.
- Speak to the people around you: friends, family, colleagues, lecturers. You are definitely not alone.
- Beauty is within, remain optimistic and respectful. Dedicated and passionate. Be the best version of yourself and with this you will realise that looks are irrelevant.
- Don’t focus on the size of your body, focus on how healthy your body is.
Celebrate your body for being unique, healthy and for carrying you through life!
Nottingham Trent University offer an Online Support service – SilverCloud, for students feeling anxious, stressed or struggling with body image or eating. For urgent support, contact NHS Urgent Care Centre or call 999.
By Emily Braeger