 According to a survey from the Be Real campaign, about one in three young people report that they are highly concerned about their body image. At a young age, many of us internalize beauty standards from society. These standards can often contribute to having a negative body image and are made even more prominent by our age of social media. Here are six signs you struggle with body image. Number one, obsessive body checking. It's a normal and natural thing for us to look at ourselves in the mirror on a daily basis. We all gaze at the mirror to see if we look presentable, for instance. But for people who struggle with body image, body checking can become obsessive. Besides the mirror, there are other ways you might check your body. These include using your hands or a tape measure, weighing yourself, checking the tightness of your clothes and comparing yourself to others. If body checking makes you stop or limit your eating, causes you to isolate yourself from others or becomes a way to control your fear and anxiety about your body, it can become problematic. The behavior often increases your preoccupation and dissatisfaction with your body. Many people are unaware of how frequently they engage in body checking and the method they do so. An increased awareness of this might help you be able to reduce this behavior and improve body image. Number two, obsessing over food and exercise. When you perceive your body in a negative way, oftentimes you may try to take steps to shape it into something you'd wanna see. Putting yourself on restrictive diets and other weight control behaviors may seem like the only option for you to be happy with your body. Instead of doing these things for your health and well-being, you're only driven by what you see in the mirror. Over-engaging in habits you may associate with being healthy, such as calorie counting and taking body measurements could actually be signs of poor body image. It may be helpful to check in with yourself frequently and ensure that food or the skill have not become a way to control your life. If you start to have thoughts about food and exercise that lead to a worsened mood, making an effort to create thoughts that make you feel more in control can lead to better outcomes. For example, instead of calling yourself a failure for gaining a few pounds, try to establish yourself as someone who doesn't let the scale change their mood. Number three, your body image and mood are correlated. Body image is something that can fluctuate from day to day. On some days you may feel great about how you look, while on others you may be feeling frustrated or embarrassed about your body, destroying your confidence. As body image is something that can often shift, the mood of those with an unhealthy relationship with their body may often be based on how they feel in their skin. According to the UK Mental Health Foundation, body dissatisfaction is associated with a poor quality of life and psychological distress while body satisfaction has been linked to better overall well-being. If your mood runs on how you feel when you see yourself in the mirror, your body image may hold a significant weight in your life. Number four, you camouflage. When picking an outfit to wear, do you find yourself wearing loose, oversized clothes? Going on from how one's mood can be linked to how one feels in their body, those struggling with body image may take some steps to make them feel better and more comfortable. For instance, they might wear loose or oversized clothing. While some people do this because it makes them feel more body positive, others may do it out of fear of judgment. According to the psychotherapist Deborah Klinger, those who have dealt with body shame are especially inclined to wear clothes that camouflage their bodies. Since people with poor body image often feel that their body is prone to judgment from others, wearing clothes that hide the body can help alleviate this fear. Number five, you frequently compare your body to others online. Do you find yourself comparing your body to others? While comparing ourselves to others is natural, making body comparisons to unrealistic standards is a surefire way to break a positive body image. A 2015 study by psychologists Jasmine Fardoli and Lenny Vartanian showed that appearance comparisons to idealized images are often associated with negative outcomes. In one study, participants comparing themselves to others in person had less negative outcomes, such as less body dissatisfaction than when they compared themselves to others online. If you find yourself often comparing your body to others online, it might be a contributor to poor body image. Detoxing your feed or unfollowing triggering accounts that make you feel worse about your appearance can potentially improve your body image. And number six, there's always something to fix about your body. When you look in the mirror, do you always see something that you don't like? You might try to fix it, but when you look in the mirror again, another flaw becomes apparent. This keeps going on and on. There's something that needs to be fixed every time. A desire to fix something about your body is an indicator of poor body image. Perfectionism plays a large role in those with poor relationships with their body. For them, there's constantly something that needs to be fixed. In a study by Tracy D. Wade, a lower desired BMI and participants was associated with higher levels of concern over a mistakes in organization. This perfectionist behavior can be harmful. A constant dissatisfaction with certain parts of your physical appearance may lead to the rise of certain eating disorders and mood disorders. Acknowledge and appreciate your flaws. They make you different from others, but that's what gives you your individuality and uniqueness, worries about your weight, height, muscularity, and other physical features can affect anybody. If you're trans or non-binary, navigating body image can be especially difficult. Poor body image is crucial to acknowledge and address, not addressing it can pose a risk to harmful outcomes such as reduced self-esteem and mood disorders and disordered eating. If you struggle with the way you perceive your body, you could also be inclined to develop poor eating and exercising habits, and this can take a toll on both your physical and mental health. Society creates a beauty standard that is not fair to so many of us, leading to dissatisfaction with ourselves, even when we are all truly beautiful in our own ways. Deconstructing the standard starts with everyone being their real, authentic selves. Surrounding yourself with real people can help you realize that you truly are not the outlier that you think you are. You're beautiful. If you found this video helpful, please like and subscribe to us for more videos. Psych2Go is committed to our goal of bringing awareness and accessibility to mental health topics. Thanks so much for watching.