Los Angeles, April 26: Forget dieting and gruelling exercise regime – just have a positive image of your body and you’ll be able to shrink your waist line and kick the Positive body image facilitates weight loss butt, say researchers. The research team from Temple University has shown that positive body image is more effective than exercise in helping young women lose weight and quit smoking.
The study showed that one in five women between the ages of 18 and 24 are smokers, and most say they keep lighting up for fear of gaining weight.
Its suggests that a little bit of dialogue and support can be more effective than an exercise plan in helping women not only keep off the weight, but also stay smoke-free.
"A lot of college-age women report smoking to keep their weight down and for body image reasons, and we think that by providing them with the tools to make them feel better about themselves, it alleviates some of those stressors," said Melissa Napolitano, a clinical psychologist at Temple`s Centre for Obesity Research and Education.
In a small pilot study of 24 women called Fit to Quit, the participants were randomly assigned to either a supervised group exercise program or body image group counselling sessions. All women were provided with a nicotine patch as well.
"Smoking has psychological and psychosocial implications, especially for young women," said Napolitano.
"We wanted to design a program that would not only address the physical addiction by providing a nicotine patch, but would also address those social and behavioural aspects as well," she added.
The findings were presented at the Society for Behavioral Medicine`s annual meeting.
ANI
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.
Cookies Setting
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device and the processing of information obtained via those cookies (including about your preferences, device and online activity) by us and our commercial partners to enhance site navigation, personalise ads, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. More information can be found in our Cookies and Privacy Policy. You can amend your cookie settings to reject non-essential cookies by clicking Cookie Settings below.
Manage Consent Preferences
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work or you may not be able to login.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advert as well as help measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we may not know when you have visited our site, and may not be able to monitor its performance.