Mental health / wellbeing – and our body image
It’s Mental Health Awareness Week here in the UK, and this year the theme is body image. How we think and feel about our bodies can affect our mental health.
It’s noticeable that a lot of the literature, reporting and discussion about body image focuses on females. There’s good reason for that. For example, research shows that adolescent girls are more dissatisfied than boys with their bodies. Read the research via ResearchGate.
Yes, there is external pressure; there’s also what us women can say about each other – and of course, what we say to ourselves. Here’s the trailblazing model Ashley Graham having a chat with herself and a grateful audience in this TEDx talk.
Journalist and broadcaster Tracey Spicer’s often hilarious – yet thought-provoking – TEDx in London did a great job of getting us to pause and think – ‘is this really what I’m doing to myself?’
But we all need to acknowledge that men have body image issues too. See what ‘Men of Manual’ got up to, challenging stereotypes as reported in Metro.
We know that social media is a factor here; most of us can’t help but seek ’Selfie-Esteem’. Here’s an evidence-based meaty read on ’Selfie-Esteem’; research discussed in The Inquisitive Mind.
Tips for improving how we feel about our bodies from The Mental Health Foundation (MHF) – 7 practical ways we can take action.
More broadly on the topic of mental health and wellbeing, MHF has a great booklet to download, ‘How to support mental health at work’.
The British Safety Council has just produced 3 videos with simple exercises and techniques to alleviate stress and anxiety when at work.
CIPD and Simplyhealth’s newly-published ‘Health and well-being at work’ research report indicates mental health is moving up the table of causes for long-term sickness absence from work – and suggests steps to take.
Develop your understanding of workplace mental health issues – and suggested remedies – with author Sue Paterson’s article on ‘Stress, Anxiety and Fear – What’s the Difference, and Why’s it Relevant to the Workplace?’
Want a short primer on resilience? Here’s a plain-speaking video from Professor Ivan Robertson.
‘Almost half of us will suffer from depression at some point in our lives’ – so begins this enlightening and ultimately comforting post from The School Of Life.
IMPORTANT NOTE
If you need immediate help with your mental health and are in distress, The Mental Health Foundation suggests services and organisations that provide direct support.
Dawn is the author of ‘The Feedback Book’ and ‘How to be Zoomly at work’
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