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Ready for some good news? Dig into that tub of Ben & Jerry's or buy yourself a Krispy Kreme. That dress doesn't make you look fat -- your brain does!Scientists at University College London have found that a person's body image is "massively distorted" in their brain, measuring up to two-thirds wider than what their body looks like in reality. (The brain's "body model" is also about one-third shorter than the body really is.) So, you're not only thinner than you thought, but also taller.
The researchers believe their findings help explain body dysmorphia and eating disorders like anorexia. Dr. Michael Longo, the neuroscientist who led the research, told the Telegraph, "Some people look in the mirror and receive information which tells them they are not fat, but they still can't use that to override their distorted body model and make themselves believe it."
Just something to remember the next time you're boring your long-suffering boyfriend by asking him if he thinks your butt looks big in those jeans. For the thousandth time.
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Friday 18 June
By Sophie
I think this only applies to women who aren't accepting of their bodies and aren't comfortable with themselves. I went from being anorexic (90 lbs 5'6") to the heavier side for my height group (145 lbs) and during that transition was never happy with my body no matter what it looked like. After counseling, exercise, yoga, and focusing on more important things I'm at a healthy 123 and know that my size doesn't make up the person that I am. Unfortunately that's what a lot of women are meant to believe, that our size is who we are. I know women who are rail thin and constantly complain about about how big they look and they're so insecure. I also know women who are on the heavier side but know exactly where they stand with their size, they're confident women who are at ease with themselves. Just goes to show being thin doesn't bring happiness.
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Saturday 19 June
By Gwen
Let's not get carried away now. If you actually read the study, all that it concluded was that people generally drew their LEFT HAND as shorter and wider than it was in reality, when left hand was not visible. However, they were still able to pick out a similar sized hand drawing in a line-up. The study did not do any research into other parts of the body, or with women in particular.
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Friday 18 June
By Riggie
Interesting piece of information. I am a recovering anorexic and have dealt with body image issues for years. There is some research that indicates that body image and eating disorders are connected to a copper/zinc imbalance. Might be worth researching if you are interested.
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Friday 18 June
By scammedbyawoman
Based on my conversations with lots of married and divorced men, body image anxiety is the second most common reason why wives decide to quit giving their husbands a sex-life when he has done nothing wrong to deserve being a husband without benefits. Body image anxiety affects women so much differently than it affects men, and one of the worst behaviors it causes in women is to make them feel too psychologically uncomfortable to get naked with their husband, so therefore they reject giving him sex. In contrast, most men with body image anxiety still want a sex life.
By the way, the first most common reason why wives decide to quit giving their husbands a sex-life when he has done nothing wrong is simply because for her the novelty has worn off. Loss of novelty is often explained as "the sex became stale" however if the bedroom technique hasn't changed, and it used to be good before the novelty wore off, then it is simply a matter of her getting too accustomed to it with him. When husbands consider the sex to be "stale" and use that as justification for seeking newer sex elsewhere, wives consider that to be outrageously selfish behavior. What women fail to understand is that when wives consider the sex to be "stale" and use that as justification to call it quits in the bedroom, husbands consider that to be equivalent outrageously selfish behavior. Both behaviors make a scam out of marriage.
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Monday 21 June
By banana44
I can appreciate the good intentions of this article, but the author's interpretation of this study is, unfortunately, a perfect example of how the media distorts scientific research.
As one of the authors of the original study mentions more than once in the Telegraph article, our perceptions of the size of certain body regions has a lot to do with the amount of sensory input that corresponds to those parts. So, for example, our hands would obviously have a large corresponding neurological representation because they are one of the primary "sensing" parts of our body. If you do a google image search of "homunculus," you'll see the (kind of creepy) visual representation of the body in the somatosensory cortex that is depicted in every cognitive neuroscience textbook ever published. The homunculus has relatively huge hands, lips, and eyes, because these are the body parts to which the largest amount of somatosensory cortex is devoted. You'll also notice that it doesn't have a particularly large waist or thighs, because these regions have relatively few nerve endings per sqaure inch, compared to the aforementioned parts.
Body dysmorphia is a real phenomenon, but it's a very rare and severe psychological disorder, characterized by extreme fixation on one's appearance, multiple plastic surgeries, and/or other extreme behaviors.
I'm all for encouraging women to love their bodies in every shape and size, but the amount of extrapolation in this article just goes to show that, when it comes to scientific research presented by the mass media, you can't believe everything you read.
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Monday 02 August
By rachel
this is very interesting! obviously it doesn't mean that you're really 2 sizes smaller than you think you are, but it certainly explains why, even when you've reached near goal weight on a diet, you still might have a perception of not looking how you want. i hope this provides comfort to people trying!
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Friday 06 August
By Online Dating
That would explain why ALL the girls I know think they are fat, and need to loose weight. Even when I tell them how great they look, they always seem to find a part of their body they think is fat. In reality they look great, and don't need to loose weight. Yet they starve themselves. Now it makes sense! Thanks for the post..
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