Eat healthier, think positive, and exercise more – and all your problems will go away -or so they say.
Wellness culture has been the forefront of our society for as long as anyone can remember.
At the end of the day, health looks different for every person, and it is doing more harm than good.
Wellness culture in today’s society seems to be less about the health of an individual and more about the physical appearance. People are more likely to view themselves negatively if they are unable to or naturally don’t fit into this image, and are more likely to develop mental health issues.
An article from the National Library of Medicine titled, Body image satisfaction among female college students – PMC said that “Individuals who perceive their bodies negatively with regard to culturally valued features may have low self-esteem, low satisfaction in life and feeling of inferiority and pose themselves at higher risk for depression, anxiety or eating disorders.”
College students are likely to develop eating disorders stemming from dieting. Most students are venturing out on their own for the first time. With the introduction of new foods, influences from social media, and more responsibilities , it’s easier for students to fall into unhealthy dieting or binge eating.
The University of Michigan School of Public Health reported that approximately 35% of students have tried to lose weight from dieting – and 25% of those diets turn into eating disorders. These disorders have negative effects on a person’s body physically – in the form of vitamin deficiencies, extreme weight loss, menstrual cycle changes and fatigue.
Eating habits and exercises formed by wellness culture can also have the opposite of the desired effect on a person. In cases of losing weight quickly through vigorous workouts and dieting, weight can come back faster.
According to an article by Time “more than 80% of people with obesity who lose weight gain it back. That’s because when you lose weight, your resting metabolism (how much energy your body uses when at rest) slows down–possibly an evolutionary holdover from the days when food scarcity was common.”
The same article also reported that a person’s metabolism remains low even when your body gains the weight back, ultimately making it harder for a person to lose weight again in the future, in the case of extreme weight loss in short periods of time.
Wellness culture offers a ‘one size fits all’ approach to a healthy living, but in reality people need plans that are tailor-fit to their needs, both mentally and physically. They need to be provided goals that allow them to reach their best self in healthy ways. Instead of focusing on trends and diets, people should be constructing eating habits that are fit to help them.
Wellness culture has the potential to create mental health problems, physical problems, and is overall not effective in helping someone become healthier. It should be avoided and instead be replaced by mental health resources and customized physical health solutions for one’s personal goals.