Mental Health Awareness Week 2019: Body Image 8 May

At Brio we want to help raise awareness for mental health issues, and as May is Mental Health Awareness Month, we want you to understand how we can help you!

This year, the Mental Health Organization has based Mental Health Awareness Week around body image. This topic affects people of all ages and is something now heavily targeting media and society. Body image is known to affect women, and many speak out about it; but more recently, men are starting to highlight the unrealistic demands on their bodies too.

Richard Madden, from the BBC’s ‘The Bodyguard’, spoke out about how he has been told to ‘lose weight and get to the gym’ by various companies he has worked for. James Corden has voiced how he never understood why ‘unattractive or heavy people don’t fall in love’ in romantic Hollywood films. Think about the main characters in the last romantic film or dramatic TV show you watched. What do they look like?

‘Snapchat Dysmorphia’ is a term that was only coined recently but explains the issues that many young people have with their body image. People have become so used to applying filters to every picture of themselves that they believe that’s how they should look. There has been an increase in people under the age of 30 enquiring about cosmetic procedures to make them look more like their filtered photos, even going as far as wanting to look like the dog or flower crown filters!

Body image issues can affect anyone but how can you work towards a healthier body image? This can be anything from losing/putting on weight, or just working out to help you feel better about yourself!

There are some great quick and easy ways to help you feel more yourself in your body! Appreciate all that your body can do and celebrate this! Create a list of the top ten things you love about who you are – this doesn’t have to focus on your body at all. You can talk about your personality or any other aspect of your life.

Carry yourself with confidence and just enjoy living. Surround yourself with positivity; keep those around you who support and love you!

Exercise can really help your mentality towards your body and can help you accomplish any personal goals! Focusing on your image can cause various mental health problems; however exercise has proven to help with anxiety, stress and depression. Working out isn’t necessarily about looking good, you can set any goal you want! Maybe you want to be able to run up the stairs without losing your breath, or play with your kids more at the weekends. Focus on meaningful goals rather than superficial ones and it’ll do wonders for your mental health.

Here at Brio we offer ways to help you accomplish goals, whatever they may be. Whether it’s to lose weight or focusing on your stress we’ve got a team of amazing people waiting to help! With one of our program’s Focus Move Evolve, you can experience 1-2-1 help with an instructor and work towards your goals.

Cheshire Change Hub is linked with Brio to help more with the mental health and staying healthy. CCH have programmes to help with exercising safely, losing weight and maintaining a healthy diet – and it’s all free!

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