▎ WuXi AppTec content team editor
Some people may look in the mirror less often because they are not satisfied with their figure. However, a review of 1687 people based on five studies suggested that for people who are overweight and obese, spending a few more minutes looking at themselves in the mirror will encourage people to control their diets and improve their exercise habits to help them lose weight.
Dr Harriet Omondi, the first author of the article, explains: "When people see bulging flesh and thick thighs in a mirror, they naturally want to change their eating habits and exercise intensity. Looking in the mirror also increases self-assessment and reflection, induces self-awareness, reduces anxiety and dissatisfaction with the body, and improves self-esteem and well-being. We hope that mirrors can be introduced as medical tools to combat obesity. ”
The paper was published in the journal Journal of Clinical Nursing
A team at Texas Woman's University found through survey analysis that the presence of mirrors can make unhealthy foods taste worse, making people tend to choose between chocolate cake and dried fruit.
For example, when placing a mirror in a college cafeteria, in addition to grooming their hair and clothes in the mirror, students are more inclined to choose healthy spices and spend more time chewing each bite of food than sauces with higher fat content. Increasing the number of meals and chewing has been shown to be an effective way to increase satiety and reduce food intake.
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Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been the mainstay of treatment for obesity, and it has been shown to reduce overeating, improve body shape, and lower body mass index (BMI). However, its long-term effects have not been adequately studied. Dr. Omondi believes that incorporating mirroring into weight management programs has the potential to help obese people maintain a healthy BMI and ease the financial burden of people losing weight.
This approach is essentially a form of mental health therapy, as most people avoid introspection when engaging in unhealthy behaviors such as "couch paralysis" or eating foods with high oil and fat, and also use overeating as a way to escape. Looking in the mirror will help increase the self-awareness of obese people, force them to examine themselves, and help them judge their own behavior, which in turn will spontaneously generate motivation to lose weight.
In other words, when people look in the mirror while eating food that does not meet health standards, they will lead to uncomfortable feelings because of self-awareness and the consequent identification with social standards, reducing the "deliciousness" of food in the mouth. They will be acutely aware that they should put down the junk food in their hands and eat some healthier food. Slowly, they will feel that the unhealthy foods are not so tasty.
In addition, the time spent looking in the mirror is also important. If you want to achieve weight loss, it is best to spend at least a few minutes in front of the mirror to observe yourself, self-reflection, and achieve the purpose of changing self-awareness. The researchers say the introduction of mirrors as an intervention for obesity management will be a new field and more research is needed in the future to explore specific measures and efficacy.
All in all, if you want to get in shape, you can spend a few extra minutes a day in front of the bathroom mirror to look at yourself. And if you can't control your desire to eat for a while, you might as well try putting a mirror across the table!
Resources:
[1] Omondi, H., & Freysteinson, W. (2021). The mirror and obesity: A systematic review on the effects of mirror exposure on behaviour and obese individuals. Journal of Clinical Nursing. Published. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.16107
[2] Looking in the mirror more often causes overweight people to engage in healthy activities. Retrieved November 17, 2021, from https://www.studyfinds.org/mirror-overweight-people-healthy/
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