Understanding the relationship between physical activity and body image
By Todd Devlin
Traditional gyms still sell weight loss and a change in one’s body appearance – leading to improved self-esteem – as the desired outcomes to potential customers. Those reasons are why many people engage in physical activity in the first place.
But are they the right ones? If the goal is to achieve a healthier body image, the answer is certainly not, according to Eva Pila, an assistant professor and researcher in Western’s School of Kinesiology.
“Changes to one’s appearance and body composition are one of the main promised outcomes of physical activity,” says Pila. “Yet the scientific research simply doesn’t support that your body has to physically change for you to experience better body image. The main benefits of physical activity come from a change in the subjective experience around the body.”
Eva Pila, School of Kinesiology
“And it makes perfect sense. If you engage in physical movement, you gain an appreciation for what your body can do and how your body functions. You can connect with your body and become more attuned to things like improved strength, and endurance and the ability to challenge yourself to accomplish new movement skills.”
Pila’s research focus is body image; specifically, the relationship between body image and physical activity. She’s interested in the psychosocial experience of the body – the ways we think and feel about our bodies, how our bodies allow us to socially express ourselves, and how it’s all related to the physical activity we engage in and our experiences with that physical activity.
The old way of thinking? It can actually be detrimental, stopping or preventing people from engaging in physical activity.
“By centering appearance and body goals to the pursuit of physical activity we undermine our ability to sustain that activity over a long time, and our experiences of that activity are worse,” says Pila, who supervises master’s and doctoral students in her role as director of the Body Image and Health Lab.
“Some of our more interesting findings, and this is paralleled by other existing literature, is that when we engage in physical activity and exercise for appearance and weight-related reasons, it’s typically associated with worsened mental health and negative physical activity experiences. These findings really help when thinking about the ways we want to promote physical activity.”
“It means movement where we can challenge ourselves – not for the purpose of changing the body or changing who we are, but rather to reach personally valued goals, connect with ourselves and others, and the many other psychosocial benefits that engaging in movement brings.”
It also puts the focus on thinking about how body image and stigmatizing body experiences are barriers to participation in physical activity, a field of study that is growing. The research looks at how an individual’s experiences with their bodies may hinder engagement in and enjoyment of exercise.
Pila’s research includes a ‘new’ way of thinking about physical activity. Not the structured, regimented types of fitness activities that are so common, and certainly not exercise as motivated by weight loss or appearance goals.
“Some of the work we’re doing is around understanding intuitive movement and compassionate movement,” says Pila. “How can we engage in movement in a way that’s embodied – meaning that we’re doing movement activities that allows us to freely express ourselves?”
“It means movement where we can challenge ourselves – not for the purpose of changing the body or changing who we are, but rather to reach personally valued goals, connect with ourselves and others, and the many other psychosocial benefits that engaging in movement brings.”
For instance, ‘Promoting Joyful and Compassionate Movement’, one of several research projects Pila is leading, focuses not on promoting the engagement of ‘high intensity’ exercise or ‘vigilant self-monitoring’, but instead on connecting with the body and the enjoyment of movement for its own sake.
“It doesn’t mean engaging in a structured high-intensity interval workout to ‘achieve a beach body by summer’ or ‘burn off the cake you ate for lunch’. Intuitive or compassionate movement refers to moving the body in any way that feels good and is internally motivated – not related to punishing the body but rather celebrating it.”
The goal? To ‘promote enjoyable and sustainable physical activity participation for individuals across the lifespan’.
Pila’s research populations run the gamut, but she has a particular focus on girls and women and individuals with socially marginalized bodies and identities. When these populations tend not to engage in physical activity, Pila says, one of the main reasons is because they often experience stigma and discrimination in physical activity spaces, and the resulting distress about their body being on social display.
The key question, then?
“How can we create inclusive physical activity spaces to improve people’s relationships with their bodies in order to promote more meaningful physical activity experiences?”
Addressing this question guides much of Pila’s work – at the Body Image and Health Lab, in the local community, and throughout the country. Her team works one-on-one and in groups with individuals in the lab, as well as community physical activity organizations.
