Appreciating What Your Body Can Do

Many of us spend a lot of time thinking about how our bodies look. What if you spent a few minutes thinking about what your body does instead? It can carry you up the stairs, hug someone you love, taste a ripe peach and heal a scraped knee. That shift in focus has been studied, and the early results are lovely. This is general education, not medical advice.

Looks versus abilities

Researchers sometimes talk about two ways of seeing your body. One is from the outside, as an object to be looked at and judged. The other is from the inside, as something that lets you do and feel things. When we get stuck in the first view, it can be hard to feel good in our skin. Gently practicing the second view is called focusing on body functionality.

A writing program called Expand Your Horizon

In 2015, Jessica Alleva and colleagues tested a short program built on this idea and published it in the journal Body Image. Eighty-one young women, with an average age of about 23, who were unhappy with their bodies, were randomly assigned to one of two programs. One was Expand Your Horizon, which used three writing assignments. In each, women described parts of what their bodies can do and why those abilities matter to them personally. The other group did a different activity of the same kind (an active control).

The researchers measured how people felt before, right after and one week later. Compared with the control group, the women who wrote about their body’s abilities reported:

• greater satisfaction with their appearance;
• greater satisfaction with their body’s functionality;
• greater appreciation of their body;
• lower self-objectification, meaning less tendency to see themselves mainly as an object to be looked at.

The effects were small to medium. Later studies have tried versions of the program with other groups, including mothers and men, with encouraging results, but not every measure improved in every group.

A fair view of the evidence

• This first study was small and involved young women, and follow-up lasted only a week.
• Feeling more appreciative of your body does not replace medical care or your own health goals. It sits beside them.
• Appreciating your body is a different thing from ignoring your health. Many people find that kind regard for their body makes it easier to look after it.

Try it yourself: a short writing practice

You do not need a special program. Set aside five or ten minutes and try one of these, writing a few sentences for each:

• Describe something your body did today that you are glad it can do.
• Choose one ability, like walking, hugging, dancing, lifting groceries or laughing. Why does it matter to you?
• Think of a time your body surprised you with its strength or its healing. What did that feel like?

Weight Wire’s free journal is a private place for this. You can use Free write for these prompts, or add a short line about what helped in your evening reflection.

More ways to be kind to your body

• Notice what you feed your mind. Social media can make comparison louder, as we describe in your feed and your body image.
• Talk to yourself like a friend. Our guide to being kind to yourself after a slip has simple ideas.
• Add gratitude. See gratitude journaling for what it can and cannot do.
• Write it out. Expressive writing can be a gentle outlet.
• Be mindful of stigma. The way society talks about weight affects health, as explained in our weight stigma article.

Sources

• Alleva JM, Martijn C, Van Breukelen GJP, Jansen A, Karos K. Expand Your Horizon: a programme that improves body image and reduces self-objectification by training women to focus on body functionality. Body Image, 2015;15:81-89 (sample, design and main findings from the PubMed record and abstract summaries; the full paper was not read).
• Later studies of the program, including trials in mothers and in men, are summarized in the research record of Maastricht University (Alleva and colleagues).