How Instagram can improve your body image

This week is Mental Health Awareness week and this year’s theme is Body Image – how we think and feel about our bodies.

We all know that how we feel about our bodies can have a huge impact on our well being and mental health. Recent research by the Mental Health Foundation found that one in ten women have self-harmed because of their body image and worryingly for the next generation almost half of 18-25 year olds said images on social media had caused them to worry about their body image.

Plus the results from our own Instagram Stories poll revealed that more of our followers thought Instagram had a negative affect on how they felt about their bodies.

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But we believe that the positive body movement on Instagram can help improve your own body image. It’s all about curating your feed and following the body positive influencers that will inspire you to feel more confident. We’re not saying Instagram isn’t full of unrealistic ideals of beauty and perfectly air-brushed models seemingly living the jet-set lifestyle. But we all have control over what appears in our own newsfeeds, and if any of those accounts make you feel negatively about yourself then simply unfollow.

Hashtags like #bodypositivity, #bopo and #bodyacceptance will bring up thousands of positive posts from people of all shapes, sizes, genders and races sharing their stories and their bodies. Give these a hashtags a follow for a daily dose of body positivity in your newsfeed.

We’ve also listed 6 incredible accounts to follow that can help make you feel good about your body and yourself. Go and check them out, give them a follow and make your Instagram feed a positive place to be.

1. @bodyimagemovement

Australian Taryn Brumfitt is one of the original pioneers of the body image movement. She is also the director of the incredibly inspiring documentary – Embrace, which in our opinion is a must see for everyone. Follow Taryn for a glimpse into her life as a mum, speaker and global crusader to end the body dissatisfaction epidemic.

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I couldn’t be more grateful for all the joy this body brings. This feeling of freedom is a gift I want for every person on the planet. Whether you choose to love your body, embrace it or accept it I believe we can all ‘level up’ from our current relationship with our body with a little bit of commitment and a splash of desire. If you want more love, less judgment, more fun, less stress, more energy, less worry, more time, more joy, more adventure the answer is simple – choose to Embrace. Now the road to embracing your body is not linear, it will take time, energy, you’ll need to unpack old stories, you’ll probably go deep, there will be tears, but I promise you this -You will never regret the decision to learn to embrace your body… you’ll only wish you’d done it sooner. {Embrace You kicks off in a few days, link in bio, don’t miss the party, this is one round not to miss 👊🏼) #ihaveembraced #embraceyou #bodyimage #bodyimagemovement #selflove #haes #diet #bikini #selflove #joy #onlineprogram #tarynbrumfitt #bodypositive #bopo #woman #womenempowerment

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2. @hi.ur.beautiful

Follow this account for a daily reminder that there is no bad way to have a body in the form of positive quotes and memes.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrniG0ABzBy/

3. @bodyposipanda

This is an account run by Megan Jayne Crabbe who suffered with eating disorders and body hatred but is now using Instagram to put an end to the negative messages spread by the diet industry.

4. @i_weigh

Actress and radio host Jameela Jamil is behind the I weigh movement on Instagram, which encourages people to measure their weight in terms of their positive attributes rather than the numbers on the scale.

5. @bryonygordon

Bryony Gordon is an author, journalist and mental health advocate. She also ran the London marathon in her underwear to promote body positivity and the fact that exercise is for everyone.

6. @stylemesunday

Mum of two Natalie Lee blogs about all things fashion and inspires women to celebrate their uniqueness. She shows that there is no such thing as perfect and perfect is boring anyway.

Let us know in a comment below if your Instagram feed has a positive or negative affect on your body image? and of any accounts out there that make you feel good about yourself.

 

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