But researchers from UBC Okanagan also found that body image acceptance doesn't last when images of thin women are shared.
One 10-minute gratitude session helps women with body issues, according to new research from UBC Okanagan.
While that is a positive result, researchers say that body acceptance doesn’t last long, especially when images of thin women are shared with the participants.
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Dr. Maya Libben, who teaches psychology in the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at UBC Okanagan, and her former honours undergraduate student Erin Fraser are researching the trend of micro-interventions, or taking small amounts of time out of the day to relax.
The research suggests that a 10-minute session with a soothing, previously recorded voice makes a significant difference when it comes to body satisfaction.
“Let’s say you listened to waterfalls or something like that for 10 minutes, and it relaxes you like the sound of a soothing voice does, then it brings your stress down, usually elevates your mood. And apparently, it even affects what you think about your body,” said Libben, in an interview Tuesday.
Libben said the issue of body dissatisfaction, especially in young teens and women, is disturbing, and noted that studies have shown that more than 50 per cent of young women, between the age of 17 and 30, say they are dissatisfied with their weight, shape and size.
For the study, 175 female undergraduate students, aged between 18 and 24, listened to three different sessions, recorded by someone with a soothing voice. One recording was about mindfulness, one about gratitude and one was a reading from a history textbook.
Before and after each session, the researchers asked the women how they felt and were asked to rate their body satisfaction. They found that in each case body dissatisfaction decreased no matter which recording they heard.
However, the women were then shown one of two sets of images—a set of neutral photos depicting inanimate objects, such as a car, or images of a perceived ideal woman with a thin body.
Libben said the feeling of body dissatisfaction shot right up again as soon as they saw images of thin women.
“So the real problem lies in our images and how strong those images are. These brief interventions can help but we need to be careful about what we are looking at on Instagram and in the media,” she said.
“You can’t get rid of these images completely. But you can give yourself micro interventions during the day for general mental health or just to bring yourself back down so that you’re not having the cumulative effects of stress.”
Libben said it is important to be aware of the harm these images can do because body dissatisfaction can lead to can lead to adverse physical and mental health outcomes such as depression or eating disorders.
ticrawford@postmedia.com