Drugs/Therapy

Depression in Young Women May be Caused by Frequent Self-Weighing

By Kanika Gupta | Update Date: Nov 13, 2015 01:34 PM EST

A new study has found that frequent self weighing may increase weight anxieties and affect the self-esteem causing depression amongst young women. While self-weighing is a great way to keep the weight in control, but this behavior may have a negative impact on psychology of young women and/or adults. More than 1900 young adults were tracked by researchers based on their self-weighing behaviors as part of the Project EAT (Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults). The results of the research revealed that this activity of weighing yourself everyday increased anxieties and concerns related to weight gain and also led to depression. Among females, it also led to body dissatisfaction and self esteem, reports Daily Excelsior.

Carly R Pacanowski, lead author of the study from University of Minnesota in US said, "Females who strongly agreed they self-weighed reported engaging in extremely dangerous weight-control behaviors at a rate of 80 per cent". She also added, "Adolescent obesity is a public health concern, but body dissatisfaction and weight concerns are predictors of eating disorders. This makes it critical that obesity-prevention programs avoid exacerbating these predictors by understanding how behaviors such as self-weighing affect teens", as reported by Daily Excelsior.

The main objective of the researchers of the study was to observe how self-weighing changes are connected with the changes in other variables. As per this study, weighing yourself frequently can have damaging effect on your self esteem. Pacanowski suggested that the doctors must ask the patients about their self weighing patterns during their office visits to determine any negative results or benefits. The adolescents are also said to have been participating in unhealthy behaviors to drop the excess weight rather than caring about their overall well being, says the Standard Daily.

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