Women’s Health in the Modern Age

From Fitbits to new diet regimes and slimming teas, it’s hard to avoid any of these health fads in our everyday lives when they are simply everywhere. When you log onto Facebook or Instagram, most likely the first thing you are going to see is someone talking about their health journey and including seemingly unbelievable “before” and “after” photos to boot.

Navigating life when women, in particular, are expected to be on top of their bodily health more than ever can be difficult or even downright challenging, especially if you have a career and a family to focus on as well.

This type of pressure, coming from all sides both online and offline, can be extremely unhealthy both mentally and physically.

Body Image and Health

An unwanted, but ultimately inevitable, side effect of this societal attention shift onto physical body health is yet even more body image expectations for women, that most “average” women can never live up to. When your worldview is being taken over by these fitness and health gurus across the internet, and even perhaps in your local gym, it can be hard to shake the thought that you aren’t doing enough, and that’s why your body doesn’t look like theirs. This can, in turn, make you feel guilty for skipping a trip to the gym, or simply treating yourself to something sweet after dinner.

Of course, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

There is absolutely no harm in taking a break, and this doesn’t mean you or your body are worthless. At the end of the day, your health, mentally and physically, is worth more than any arbitrary “body goal” that surfaces and is near-on impossible to achieve. However, if you do have legitimate concerns about your physical health, though, whether they are weight-related or not, it’s best to schedule a check-up with a health professional, like those at the Infinity Health & Wellness Clinic, to put your mind at ease or get the treatment you need.

Encourage Wellness

Teenagers and even young children are also starting to feel the effects of these unrealistic expectations. It’s important to remind them that their worth goes well beyond the appearance of their bodies and that there is more to living a healthy lifestyle than achieving a slim and toned body. The best way to do this is to nurture healthy habits in them, such as healthy meals or frequent but fun exercise. It’s important, however, to not associate this with any sort of weight or body image goal in mind. This means no talk about calories or diets or losing weight. It can be tough, and they are no doubt going to encounter these things elsewhere in their lives from others, but this approach can help them to understand that eating healthy and doing regular exercise are part of a healthy lifestyle, not life itself, and that a certain type of body is not the “end goal”.

Health should never be about reaching a certain weight or body type; it should be about living long and happily.

Thanks to Ellie