How do you feel about your appearance? How much time do you spend worrying about your looks? Today and AOL have teamed up to survey more than 2,000 adults and 200 teenagers about their body image. The results are in, and they're troubling.
According to the article, women spend (read *waste*) an average of 55 minutes every single day preening. Think about that. Almost an hour every day—that's the equivalent of a two-week vacation—spent on our looks.
Of course, looking after yourself is a good thing, but where do you draw the line between maintenance and obsession? As we all know, the latter can lead to disordered eating, anxiety, and even depression.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the survey revealed that compared to just 36 percent of men, more than half of women (60 percent) have negative thoughts about themselves on a weekly basis. When it comes to teen girls, that figure rises to 78 percent. Read more survey results here.
Among the women surveyed who are moms, 57 percent are concerned with how their own body image will affect that of their children. Ironically, body acceptance is at its peak during the golden years—for those over 55 years old—and at its lowest for women under the age of 24 (arguably when nature is at its kindest).
We all have aspects of our appearance that we are less enamoured with; the danger comes in focusing too much on a single flaw. The Today anchors have opened up about body image, proving that even the faces on TV every day have their fair share of insecurities.
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