How do you feel about your body? Proud and confident or perhaps suffering a bout of gym-phobia induced guilt? Either way new research advises that for a better body image, listen to your heart – literally. Those who can hear their own heart are apparently less likely to objectify themselves or perceive themselves as commodities to be evaluated on their looks.
“If people are able to stand inside their bodies and feel their body, they have a good sense of what’s happening inside themselves, and they’re less likely to objectify themselves,” said co-author of the study Vivien Ainley, a doctoral candidate in neuroscience at Royal Holloway, University of London.
The research involved 50 students sitting quietly counting their heartbeats for short stints of time. Participants answered a questionnaire asking what aspects of their body they valued the most; strength, health or attractiveness. Those who counted their heartbeat’s most accurately chose health or strength suggesting they viewed their body’s from the inside out.
So go on then, take a deep breath, listen and start counting – it may not give you an instant 6-pack but you may start to care a little less.
