If everything perfect and there was nothing left to do there would be no point in life. The journey of life is what shapes and defines us. Everything has an effect on us whether we realize it or not, and how we see ourselves has a huge impact on our health and personality. Body image plays a huge role in what controls people: therefore how one sees one’s self is how that person lives. Body image is an individual’s view: love, hate, and criticism of his or her body. According to National Eating Disorders. Org, “Body image is how you see yourself when you look in the mirror or when you picture yourself in your mind” (Neda, 1).
For most people, the biggest motivation to change their lifestyle or choices to match the body image “standards”. How one sees his or her-self is how that person will live. Body image ultimately affects each person’s lifestyle and happiness. In most cases of society in order to have a good life, one must have a good body image that is not too harsh but allows that person to still make healthy decisions and allows them to feel good at the same time. How a person looks should not in any way impact his or her social or work life. It does, though.
Children are often picked in sporting activities based on how athletic they look, and children who do not look athletic tend to be selected last and are picked on. Later in life, people’s careers and job options are affected by their physical appearance. The choices they make and don’t make affect them for life, Decisions like that should not be controlled by anyone other than that person. The media is by far the leading cause of a negative body image. “The average teen girl gets about 180 minutes of media exposure daily and only about 10 minutes of parental interaction a day, says Renee Hobbs, EdD, associate rofessor of communications at Temple University” (Elizabeth 1).
Due to the media’s unrealistic showings of people happy that are fit and healthy. People try to do what only ten percent of the population actually does, which is working out. They try to substitute that by not eating by starving their bodies or feeling bad about themselves and still eating but always being sad. Magazines post pictures of people who have literally been photoshopped to have bigger and smaller sized proportions, making readers feel like those photo-shopped pictures are how people who have “made it” look like.
People think these magazine photos are actual goals, but nobody is actually physically capable of looking like these photoshopped image. Eating disorders are now not having enough self-control over food or having too much self-control over food. For example, not eating at all to try to lose thirty pounds, or to just keep losing pounds. Some say it is similar to the bodybuilder’s addition to gaining muscle: one can never lose enough weight, and the new goal is ever elusive. Eating disorders kill a lot of people.
Eating disorders cause people to forcefully throw up, giving them the possibility of rupturing their neck and die if they don’t starve to death first. According to the government, “Eating disorders are real, treatable medical illnesses” … and further, “Other symptoms can become life-threatening if a person does not receive treatment, which is reflected by anorexia being associated with the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder” (nimh pg 1) Steroids are a way to build muscle quickly and add muscular bulk. Many people would like this extra muscular size to intimidate others or to impress those of the opposite sex.
School sports and demanding careers could tempt people to resort to steroids to quickly change their bodies to what they think would be best for them. Nimh also thought only women had body image problems learned about how steroids were a common issue for men struggling with body image. He reached out to his readers and what he found out was that men struggle with body image equally. She states, “As learned of these men’s stories it became obvious to me that while girls typically worry about being too fat or too big, men are preoccupied with not being muscular enough” (Venessa pg1).
The pressure to look a certain way separates us from reality and should not be controlled by standards. Steroids are by far one of the most tempting ways to achieve the perceived body image of muscularity and raw strength. It is easy to use them for immediate high results, ignoring risks like increased heart size and decreased sperm count later on. Peer pressure in s can easily spike someone’s interest in using steroids from being picked on and bullied by people who are naturally bigger in size.
Steroids offer a way to level this playing field, which seems to be a necessity at the time but this is really just a symptom of poor body image. Trying to get a body image that is humanly unrealistic is impossible, a realistic body image is key. Mtscil states this,”It’s important that your self-image is both positive and realistic. Having a self-image that is unrealistic can be a drawback whether that self-image is negative OR positive” (Mtstcil pg1 ). Negative body image can be unrealistic views on how the body actually looks.
For example, looking in the mirror and seeing one’s body fifteen pounds heavier than it actually is, someone would try extra hard to lose that weight when in reality the weight does not exist. A positive self-image is a realistic self-image. Being able to see what is actually there and guide oneself to make healthy choices that will get one the results and not harm the body or cause disorders. Even if there is an excessive amount of weight to lose or another real issue with the body, seeing it for what it is is the start of a positive body image. Body image is a healthy balance of criticism and love for the body.
How one looks should not affect one as a person. The body image should not be based on anyone else’s view of beauty, and people should not have to change their body or feel about because one’s own view is the only one that matters. Self-views can tend to be derailed by peer pressure and media advertisements, causing harm to one’s life either through depression, eating disorders, or steroid use. Maintaining a good self-image will lower chances of steroid use, depression, and eating disorders. A positive body image will overall create a happy life.
