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Women
Who Exercise With Mirrors Feel Worse
Mirrors are as common as paint on the walls of health clubs,
but what is so inspiring about watching yourself gasping
and drenched in sweat? For exercise novices, not much, according
to one study, which found that women who exercised in front
of a mirror felt worse than women who exercised without
them.
"Placing mirrors in exercise centers may need to be
reconsidered, especially in centers that are trying to attract
exercise initiates," said the study in the American
Psychological Association journal Health Psychology.
The researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario,
looked at 58 sedentary women with an average age of almost
21. The women first answered questions about how they felt
their bodies looked, how confident they were in their ability
to ride an exercise bike, and what their mood was —
whether, for instance, they felt "calm" or "worn-out."
The women rode the exercise bike twice, at a moderate intensity,
for 20 minutes, one week apart. In one ride, they were in
a mirrored room; in the other, the mirrors were covered
by curtains.
After each ride, the women answered again the same sort
of questions they had answered in the beginning.
When women rode while they could watch themselves in the
mirror, they wound up feeling worse than they did when they
could not look at themselves, the study found. For example,
the mirrored rides left women feeling less calm and more
fatigued.
This can't be simply a case in which women who watch themselves
exercise come away with a worse opinion of their own bodies,
said researcher Kathleen Martin Ginis, an associate professor
of health and exercise psychology at McMaster. These women
on average were not overweight, and even women with high
body-image scores felt worse after exercising in front of
a mirror, she said.
Other studies had found that gazing into a mirror tends
to make a person feel worse, Ginis said.
It's not just the body, either. Even without exercise, periods
of staring into a mirror make people start to think about
their other flaws as well. "We tend to be quite critical,"
she said.
Exercise, on the other hand, tends to make people leave
feeling better about themselves, and the study was designed
to see if the exercise effect outweighed the mirror effect.
It did not, and the psychological tests picked that up.
"This is the kind of thing where people come away thinking,
'I don't feel that great,'" she said.
Women who hadn't exercised before typically have low expectations
of how well they would be able to exercise, and the women
in this study probably felt the mirrors proved them right,
the researchers said.
Although the study did not look at men, Ginis suspects men
might have some of the same reactions, although less strongly,
because men tend to be less self-critical than women.
The findings, published in June, indicate that health club
operators should start changing their decor, the researchers
said. "If a bout of exercise leaves a sedentary woman
feeling worse than before she worked out, it will be difficult
to persuade her to establish a regular exercise program,"
they said.
This fits the experiences of Curves International, a fast-growing
chain that focuses on women, especially those who are not
competitive. Members don't want mirrors, said founder Gary
Heavin. "When we didn't put them in, they could concentrate
on having fun," he said.
However, the bad experience with mirrors may not be true
of more advanced exercisers, the study said. Other researchers
have found that highly active women who exercised in front
of a mirror felt better for it, possibly because they got
to show themselves how good they did.
And Ginis is not about to bring upon herself the amount
of bad luck that would develop if every health club in North
America trashed its mirrors on her say-so. Mirrors are necessary
equipment that help people such as weight trainers confirm
they are doing their moves properly, she said. She suggested
that clubs create mirror-free zones for women who are getting
started.
Article Source: Associated Press
Article Author: N/A
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