In this article, we will discuss the perception and effects of being fat.
You are fat, aren't you?
You are fat." No one likes to be told that, but how about it?
It is said that a certain percentage of people are unaware of whether they are fat or not.It is said that a certain percentage of people are unaware of the fact that they are overweight, and what are the health implications of being told this fact? I would like to introduce a study that investigates this question.
Contents of the study
This study uses data from Wave 3 and 4 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.
Of the 4,882 participants who completed the baseline assessment, 3,582 (2,017 women and 1,565 men) provided sufficient follow-up data to be included in the current analysis.
Participants included in the analysis were more likely to be female (p <.001), white (p <.001), and have a limited chronic condition (p <.01) than those excluded.
They were also more likely to have a higher BMI.
The participants included in the analysis were, on average, 21.80 years old at baseline and 28.80 years old at follow-up.
The survey included items such as perceived weight, BMI, physiological dysregulation, self-rated health, and depressive symptoms that were established and assessed.
Of the 3,582 participants, 41.82% perceived themselves to be overweight at baseline, while the remaining 58.18% did not.
The correlation between the perception of being overweight (dichotomous) and the actual perception of being overweight (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2) was 0.57, confirming the substantial discrepancy between being objectively overweight and perceiving oneself to be overweight.
Self-rated health status decreased over the course of the study, and depressive symptoms increased.
Participants' BMI also increased by 2.55 kg/m2 over the seven years between the baseline and follow-up assessments.
The results of the regression analysis showed that participants who felt they were overweight between baseline and follow-up had a 0.22 SD decline in self-rated health status.
Perceiving themselves to be overweight predicted a slight increase in depressive symptoms over the period.
In addition to these changes in self-rated health and depressive symptoms, perceiving oneself as overweight predicted physiological dysregulation after 7 years.
These associations were independent of baseline BMI and potential confounding sociodemographic factors measured (i.e., age, gender, ethnicity, education, income, and presence of limiting conditions).
We also investigated whether the association between perceiving oneself as overweight and the health outcomes examined was with respect to whether participants accurately perceived themselves as overweight or overestimated their weight status.The interaction term between perceiving oneself as overweight and the accuracy of that perception is not important for changes in self-rated health.
This could mean that the effect of perceiving oneself as overweight on self-rated health and depression did not depend on the accuracy of weight perception.
There was a significant negative interaction between perceiving oneself as overweight and the accuracy of that perception in predicting physiological dysregulation.
In summary, these findings suggest that perceiving oneself as overweight is an important predictor of subsequent health, regardless of the accuracy of one's weight perception.Finally, we tested whether the association between perceiving oneself as overweight and health was moderated by gender.
The three results show that both men and women have similar effects on the health of adults.
The researchers' conclusions
Identifying oneself as being overweight may be associated with adverse health effects, but prospective testing of this possibility is lacking. over a seven-year period, a sample of 3,582 adults in the U.S. examined the association between perceptions of being overweight and subsequent health. Perceiving oneself as overweight was associated with longitudinal declines in subjective health (d = -0.22, p <.001), increases in depressive symptoms (d = 0.09, p <.05), and elevated levels of physiological dysregulation (d = 0.24, p <.001), as measured by clinical indicators of cardiovascular, inflammatory, and metabolic function. As measured by the These associations remained after controlling for a range of potential confounders and were observed regardless of whether the perception of being overweight was accurate or inaccurate. This study underscores the possibility that identifying oneself as overweight may act independently of body mass index to contribute to an unhealthy profile of physiological functioning and health impairment over time. These findings underscore the importance of assessing whether weight feedback interventions may have unanticipated adverse effects.
Daly M, Robinson E, Sutin AR. Does Knowing Hurt? Perceiving Oneself as Overweight Predicts Future Physical Health and Well-Being. Psychol Sci. 2017;28( 7):872-881. doi:10.1177/0956797617696311
Conclusion
What are the future health outcomes of being aware or not being aware that you are overweight? It turns out that whether you are aware of it or not, it will affect your mental state and other aspects of your life.
In recent years, we not only see people with extremely good looks in the media, but we also see more and more people in general with excellent body shapes.
It is a fact that this obsession with appearance is affecting our mentality in terms of creating new business opportunities.
In this day and age, if you are concerned about those things, just don't look at them, but at the very least, you might want to refrain from saying things like "I'm fat" to others without hesitation.
