College Students Will Do Anything to Look Good

by: Nicholas Sedbrook

          

            On any given day at the UNLV Student Recreation and Wellness Center you will see a plethora of students exhausting themselves at the gym in pursuit of a “spring break bod.” Karina Chang is among these people putting in her fair share of work. Karina said she works out for at least two hours a day to stay on track for her fitness goals. She is even sticking to a strict low calorie, low carbohydrate diet to speed the process along. When asked if she enjoys this regimen, she said “it’s terrible and exhausting, but having the perfect body is worth all the pain [she’s] putting [herself] through.”

Karina is not the only one who has been putting her happiness on the back burner to see results. Daphne-Jayne Corrales has been experimenting with different supplements and seeing their effects on her weight and appetite. She said she’s tried at least three different types of fat burners and “all of them have left [her] feeling sweaty, jittery, or worst of all nauseous.” She’s added both protein and fiber supplements to her diet as well. She’s been trying to stick to “a very strict diet of only 1500 calories a day.”

When did college students become so self-conscious about their body image? At least three times a day I hear a fellow student highlight something they’d like to change about their body; whether it be losing a few pounds, gaining some muscle, or doing a complete body transformation – college students are torturing themselves to look good.

The two aforementioned students are not alone – most college students wish they were thinner; but, why are young adults plagued by this unhappiness with their bodies? We are surrounded by media saturated with unrealistic ideals of beauty. These glorified standards of what it means to be healthy can have adverse effects on our self-esteem. Whenever you open a magazine or turn on the television you will find people who have perfectly in shape bodies. We begin to compare ourselves with those standards causing us to hate the way we look. New research shows people can become dissatisfied with their bodies at as young as three years old; while children as young as four already know ways how to lose weight. Not only is this due to other kids labeling their peers as fat, but also because 31% of kids label themselves as fat. Childhood obesity is an epidemic that affects 12.7 million children and adolescents. So, with the media enforcing nearly impossible ideals of beauty and the possibility of body dissatisfaction starting at a very young age, young adults are exerting all their energy into trying to achieve a “perfect body”

The worst part of all this is that people who are underweight think that they are overweight. I’m not saying that it is a bad thing to want to look healthy, but there is a limit to how far you can push your body. Instead of trying to become perfect illusions of beauty, simply try to eat healthy and get enough exercise.

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Why are college students so worried about how they look? Find out what it really costs to get that spring break body - (link to my article)