13 Kasım 2016 Pazar
11 Ağustos 2016 Perşembe
"A few spots cast a cloud over my day": male teens on secret body worries
Although body image issues are thought to mainly affect young women, young men also worry about their looks – and more so than you might imagine. A new survey of 1,000 primary and secondary students in the UK found that 55% would consider changing their diet to look better, and 23% said they believed there was a “perfect male body”. It’s thought that pressure to look good comes from friends, celebrities, advertising and social media.
Related: Male teens and body image: what are your biggest fears and insecurities?
Below, four male teenagers and one young adult reveal their biggest body worries. Share your thoughts and comments (or indeed your own secret fears) below the line.
James, 19, Cornwall: ‘I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied with my body’
I am most insecure about my skin and body. During my teenage years I spent hours looking in the mirror, thinking about what I hate and must improve on. I want to be more muscular, which requires eating more, but I’m also petrified of getting fat. Every bite becomes an existential matter, and I worry about being tipped over the edge into obesity (I’m 5ft8 and weigh roughly 138lbs). My skin is another root of my self-loathing. I’m constantly worried about bumps and spots and blackheads and obsess over the smallest of blemishes, washing my face sometimes more than 10 times a day. It really tears me apart.
I don’t think young men necessarily worry about their body image more than girls, but the problem is that we don’t talk about it. All my body worries really affect my mood. It sounds so dramatic but a grey cloud can be cast over my day because of a few spots.
The past couple of months have been defined by diet and exercise and a will to get fit. But I also have a weird paranoia about joining a gym. I worry about making a fool of myself, so have gym equipment I use at home instead. Now, I work out pretty much every night. I’ve done hours of research on the best exercises and correct diet for muscle growth, but still don’t think I will ever be fully satisfied with the way my body looks.
William, 20, Essex: ‘Body image is a growing problem among young men’
Until my late teens I was overweight and although I am now (nominally) a normal weight for my height, I still feel fat and unattractive. I hate the way I look, whether I’m clothed or naked.
The ubiquity of internet porn has opened up a whole new world of insecurities around penis size
I think body image issues among young men are a growing problem. Advertising has made a big difference, for example the infamous Levi’s jeans ads that used a “perfect” male body to sell denim. Levi’s ads from the 1980s to me seem like a turning point, the first time that male sexuality and body image were used to sell us something (although practically any ad for men’s clothing or perfume now does this). These ads make me feel inadequate.
The ubiquity and extremity of internet porn has also opened up a whole new world of insecurities around penis size for men. Add that to an aggressively macho sports culture that worships strength and often denies men a chance to express their problems and you have the perfect storm for bottled-up anxiety, poor self-image and body dysphoria.
Craig, 17, Leicester: ‘Young men don’t talk about their own bodies in a negative way because they could get bullied’
I am sure a lot of men worry about their bodies, because we are expected to be muscular and some aren’t. Thinner men also think that they won’t get a date and some try to bulk up. During college years, young men always compare themselves to others and normally those who are classed as “fit” by girls.
I sometimes look at my own body and question whether it is good enough. I know I’m not as thin as I would like and I don’t have time to go to a gym (and wouldn’t because there are too many people there). I often feel embarrassed to take my top off, especially with friends because I don’t know what they will say, so I try to keep my tops a little baggy. Young men don’t talk about their own bodies in a negative way because they could get bullied, and younger men, especially, see their issues as weaknesses for others to exploit.
Mike, 19, Nottingham: ‘Young men are obsessed with body image’
I have always thought I was scrawny, that my shoulders are not broad enough and my upper arms not muscly enough. I could never go swimming or topless on a beach because I just don’t look good. I also worry that I’m not tall enough and that my skin is too pale.
Young men worry about body image every bit as much as young women do
Young men are obsessed with body image and worry about it every bit as much as young women do. Their worries can sometimes be more acute because there is so little debate about how images of “perfect” male bodies are used by the media. Whereas most girls are made aware that they are often unrealistic, there is no similar attempt to educate young men about body image. I am constantly anxious about the way I look in public: worries about being scrawny mean I can’t wear T-shirts or any close-fitting clothes. I feel uncomfortable without a jacket on to shield me, so I fear hot days when I have to leave the house without one. I also find it difficult to interact with girls without feeling like they are judging me. The way I appear feels like the most important thing in my life and one I can’t get right.
Tony, 18, Leicester: ‘My scrawny physique has led to me being called anorexic or compared to a heroin addict’
Everyone has always found great amusement at being able to form a ring around my wrists between their thumb and little finger. My scrawny physique has led to me being called anorexic, while others compare me to a heroin addict. All these comments have made me insecure about ever taking my top off at the beach or poolside. Worse still is that men often seem to size you up and then treat you accordingly. At times I feel like a non-entity. Everyone assumes that a two-seat sofa will fit three when I am one of the two already on it. Girls can be no different. They flock to the muscular men without ever giving boys my size a second glance. I am often told that it’s more a matter of confidence, but having a skinny physique means I don’t have any.
There seems to be a deficit of sensitivity in most male groups. It is always about banter and bravado. If one of us were to spontaneously open up there would be a tsunami of criticism and jokes.
- Some names have been changed.
"A few spots cast a cloud over my day": male teens on secret body worries
24 Temmuz 2014 Perşembe
Study Finds Much more Than 100 Spots In The Human Genome Linked To Schizophrenia
Researchers have uncovered a lot more than one hundred genetic markers linked to building schizophrenia – and it turns out that most of us have in between 20 to 30 of them.
A sizable collaboration of researchers from around the planet performed the biggest genomic mapping of any neuropsychiatric disorder to date, which integrated deciphering the genetic codes of far more than 80,000 people. The investigation group recognized 108 genetic markers underlying threat of developing schizophrenia, 83 of which had by no means been recognized prior to.
More individuals are afflicted with schizophrenia than you may believe – about a single in each and every a hundred of us. For sufferers of this mysterious disorder, the line between genuine and unreal is blurry or nonexistent. Some hear voices. Other folks think they are currently being controlled by some strong entity, often the government or aliens. For a lot of, the disorder can make fitting into normal social circumstances almost not possible.
The value of treating schizophrenia is substantial–estimated at in excess of $ 60 billion yearly in the U.S. alone–and even the most innovative medicines only treat signs of the disorder, not root causes.
(Photograph credit: Wikipedia)
Each of the 108 genetic markers exerts a weak effect, the researchers report, but collectively they are potent. Most of the examine participants had at least twenty-30 of the markers, indicating a remarkably commonplace prevalence in the planet population.
The new investigation findings open doors to targeted treatment options for triggers of schizophrenia, a probability out of reach right up until now.
“The fact that we had been ready to detect genetic chance variables on this substantial scale demonstrates that schizophrenia can be tackled by the exact same approaches that have already transformed our comprehending of other diseases,” explained the paper’s senior writer Michael O’Donovan, deputy director of the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics at Cardiff University College of Medicine. “The wealth of new findings have the potential to kick-start off the development of new remedies in schizophrenia, a method which has stalled for the last 60 years.”
A modest but essential subset of the genetic markers are lively in the immune program, suggesting that autoimmune conditions may possibly share a widespread hyperlink with schizophrenia. The link has been speculated for numerous many years, but only now substantiated with solid genetic evidence.
The work was done by members the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC), a collaboration of much more than 80 institutions. The group is preparing to expand the research to an even bigger sample of the population from all around the globe.
The study was published in the journal Nature.
You can uncover David DiSalvo on Twitter @neuronarrative and at his website The Day-to-day Brain. His newest guide is Brain Changer: How Harnessing Your Brain’s Electrical power To Adapt Can Adjust Your Daily life.
Study Finds Much more Than 100 Spots In The Human Genome Linked To Schizophrenia
30 Mayıs 2014 Cuma
France moving to ban e-cigarette from public spots, says report
As well as a ban affecting e-cigarettes, France may possibly comply with Australia’s illustration by ordering plain packaging for on tobacco merchandise, says the French newspaper. Photograph: Tim Ireland/PA
France is getting ready to location e-cigarettes on the exact same legal footing as tobacco smoking with draft legislation that aims to ban their use in public locations.
The wellness minister, Marisol Touraine, intends to table a bill on 17 June bringing in anti-smoking measures, Le Figaro reported on Friday.
Not only would France become the first massive European nation to introduce the ban affecting e-cigarettes, but it would also stick to Australia’s example by ordering plain packaging for tobacco goods that display graphic pictures of diseases brought on by smoking.
The proposed bill is more prohibitive than anti-smoking measures adopted by the European parliament in February. It comes at a time when e-cigarette merchants have been springing up across France, which now has nearly one million consumers.
The president of the French Tobacconists’ Confederation, Pascal Montredon, told the Guardian that Touraine was being unrealistic by modelling her reforms on “Anglo-saxon” countries such as Australia and Britain exactly where the cigarette distribution network is fully various from France.
“Tobacconists are fed up with becoming stigmatised at a time when instead the government must be undertaking one thing about the unemployment rate,” he stated. The confederation is pressing for e-cigarettes to be offered solely in tobacconist stores, but the proposed legislation fails to handle this, he explained.
He also explained the government needed to deliver in measures to curb the parallel cigarette market which accounts for 25% of income in France.
Other critics said that studies had proven that smokers are much more influenced by loved ones and buddies in taking up smoking and that extremely number of are influenced by packaging.
Touraine’s workplace did not verify the report in Le Figaro, which was published on the eve of “globe no tobacco day”. But the ministry stated that a “nationwide smoking reduction prepare” was below consideration.
A total 73,000 French smokers die each 12 months from tobacco-relevant cancers.
France moving to ban e-cigarette from public spots, says report