Keywords
body composition - body esthetic - esthetic score
Introduction
Body image is defined as a person's perceptions, thoughts and feelings about his or
her body.[1] The dissatisfaction with body image represents the difference between the actual
mass and body shape compared to an idealized body.[2] Studies have shown that dissatisfaction with body image is related to health damage,
including psychological stress,[3] eating disorders,[4] symptoms of depression,[5] impaired sexual function, and risky sexual behavior.[6] In women, dissatisfaction with body image is related to the woman's perception of
how other people judge her attractiveness.[7] The judgment of attractiveness, in turn, has been shown to be dependent on body
morphology and hormonal concentration.[8]
The practice of physical activity can be an alternative to enhance body image and
body esthetic. Physical exercise has the capacity to alter the measurements of the
body related to esthetic,[9] as well as to reduce women's dissatisfaction with their own body image, with an
attenuation of depressive symptoms.[1] In addition, the practice of physical activity can improve the quality of life of
university students mainly through increased physical self-esteem.[10]
However, when physical exercise is performed in a compulsive manner, it can cause
psychological and physical damages to health.[11] Positive feelings arising from the practice of physical activity, such as elevated
mood, depend on the purpose of such exercises.[12] Women who seek physical activity for health or pleasure are more likely to get the
positive sensations that normally accompany physical exercises compared with those
who practice physical exercises for esthetic purposes.[12] Furthermore, body image disorders, when associated with excessive exercise, may
become a predictor for the development of eating disorders.[12]
Therefore, the practice of physical exercises is not always able to promote an improvement
in body image; moreover, the potential effect of the practice of physical activity
on the corporal esthetic of women has not yet been evaluated in the scientific literature.
Therefore, the objective of the present study was to compare the body image and body
esthetic between two groups of women with different levels of physical activity.
Materials and Methods
The present is a cross-sectional and observational study using a non-probabilistic
sample. All evaluations were performed by a single researcher, thus maintaining greater
reliability in the data. All volunteers in the present study signed the informed consent
form, which ensured the preservation of the integrity and the confidentiality of all
the information pertaining to the participants. The project was approved by the Ethics
in Research Committee of Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso (981.418/CEP/HUJM) under
CAAE number 65133517.5.0000.5541.
A total of 79 healthy young women between the ages of 18 and 35 years, who at the
time of the evaluations could not be in the menstrual period or pregnant, were evaluated.
For the evaluations, a protocol was adopted: to abstain from physical exercise on
the day of the evaluation and to be fasting for at least 4 hours.
After this step, the women were divided into 2 groups: 39 women with low/moderate
levels of physical activity, and 40 women with high levels of physical activity according
to the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) – short version –, a self-completion
instrument, to control the levels of physical activity in adults aged 15 to 69 years.
The pectoral, abdominal, hip and calf circumferences[13] were measured using an anthropometric chart (CESCORF, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil),
and the abdominal and hip circumference measurements were used to obtain the waist-to-hip
ratio.[14] According to the techniques described by Lohman et al,[15] the level of ectomorphy and mesomorphy of the volunteers was calculated. The body
composition was analyzed using an InBody S10 multifrequency device (InBody Co., Eonju-ro,
Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea), which calculates the percentage of fat mass (FM),
the total FM in kilos, the skeletal muscle mass (MM) in kilos, the Body Mass Index
(BMI, kg/m2), and the visceral fat area (VFA) in cm2. The anthropometric and body composition variables were selected because they had
predictive power over the body esthetic of the study participants.
For the verification of the body image we used the scale of silhouettes,[16] which is composed of 9 pictures of body images. The set of silhouettes was presented
to the individuals, who were asked the following questions: What is the silhouette
that best represents your current physical appearance?; What is the silhouette you
would like to have? The dissatisfaction with body image was determined by the difference
between the self-perception regarding the current silhouette (CS) and the ideal silhouette
(IS).
A Portuguese version of the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ), which was validated for
Brazilian university students, was used to evaluate the degree of satisfaction or
concern with body shape and to determine the body image disorder. This tool consists
of 34 questions that are scored according to a Likert scale ranging from never to
ever (scores from 1 to 6), and classifies the subject into 4 groups: no body dissatisfaction
(below 80 points); mild dissatisfaction (between 80 and 110 points); moderate dissatisfaction
(between 110 and 140 points); and severe dissatisfaction (above 140 points).[17]
[18]
The esthetic judgment proceeded with the image of the volunteers treated with a blur
on the face, preserving their identities. They were requested to fill out the questionnaire
made available through an Office document, which contained questions, with scores
from 01 to 10, regarding esthetic. The images were displayed in a slide format in
a 16-inch screen notebook. These evaluations took place in the presence of the 20
physical education professionals who were members of the research, 10 men and 10 women,
who were active in the fitness, body esthetic and health market, and who were directly
linked to some paid activity for at least 12 consecutive months.[17]
[18]
Data Analysis
The normal distribution of the data was verified by the Shapiro-Wilk test. The homogeneity
of the variance was verified by the Levene test. For the comparison between the two
groups of participants, the independent t-test and the Mann-Whitney test were used for parametric and non-parametric data respectively.
The level of significance was set at 5% (p < 0.05). The data are shown in figures (box diagrams) and descriptively in tables
and texts as mean and standard deviation (mean ± standard deviation) for parametric
data and median, minimum and maximum (median [minimum-maximum]) for non-parametric
data.
Results
A total of 79 women were evaluated, 39 of which had low/moderate levels of physical
activity, and 40 of which had high levels of physical activity according to the IPAQ.
The group with low/moderate levels, as expected, showed a lower weekly (minutes per
week) level of physical activity of mild, moderate and vigorous intensity when compared
with the group with high levels (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the groups regarding age (p = 0.12; low/moderate: 23 [18–35] years old versus high: 22 [19–35] years old), but
there was a significant difference regarding height (p = 0.004; low/moderate: 1.61 ± 0.06 m versus high: 1.65 ± 0.06 m) ([Table 1]).
Table 1
Profile and body composition of young women in the study sample
|
Variables
|
Low/Moderate
(n = 39)
|
High (n = 40)
|
p-value
|
|
Age (years)
|
23 (18–35)
|
22 (19–35)
|
0.120 #
|
|
Height (m)
|
1.61 ± 0.06
|
1.65 ± 0.06
|
0.004
|
|
Body mass (kg)
|
61.7 (46.2–88.8)
|
63.1 (46.1–116.7)
|
0.709 #
|
|
Body mass index (kg/m2)
|
23.8 (18.3–30.9)
|
22.6 (18.0–37.2)
|
0.312 #
|
|
Fat mass/height2 (kg/m2)
|
7.6 (2.8–15)
|
6.0 (2.7–15.8)
|
0.047 #
|
|
Visceral fat area (cm2)
|
83.0 (19.1–213)
|
68.3 (17.7–223)
|
0.161 #
|
|
Pectoral circumference
|
90.8 (81.3–106.5)
|
88.6 (75.0–115.0)
|
0.377 #
|
|
Abdominal circumference
|
82.7 (69.1–108)
|
81.1 (69.0–115.5)
|
0.283 #
|
|
Calf circumference
|
36.6 (30.5–45.4)
|
36.1 (31.8–47.7)
|
0.829 #
|
|
Waist-to-hip ratio
|
0.82 ± 0.04
|
0.82 ± 0.04
|
0.744
|
|
Abdominal adipometry
|
37.4 ± 8.7
|
34.2 ± 10.2
|
0.137
|
|
Calf adipometry
|
26.8 ± 8.7
|
24.9 ± 8.2
|
0.295
|
|
Mesomorphy
|
4.7 (2.2–7.8)
|
3.8 (1.3–8.6)
|
0.092 #
|
|
Ectomorphy
|
1.1 (0.1–3.9)
|
2.1 (0.1–4.7)
|
0.136 #
|
|
Physical activity (minutes/week)
|
|
|
|
|
Light
|
90 (0–900)
|
140 (0–840)
|
0.062 #
|
|
Moderate
|
80 (0–540)
|
205 (0–1050)
|
0.002 #
|
|
Vigorous
|
0 (0–135)
|
300 (70–840)
|
< 0.001 #
|
Note: # Mann-Whitney test with significance at p < 0.05 and 95% confidence interval.
Regarding the anthropometric and body composition parameters, there was no significant
difference between the two groups, except for the FM/height2, which was higher (p = 0.047) in the low/moderate group ([Table 1]).
The score in the BSQ questionnaire (low/moderate: 95.9 ± 35.6 versus high: 96.9 ± 30.4),
the current silhouettes (low/moderate: 4 [2–7] versus high: 4 [1–7]) and ideal silhouettes
(low/moderate: 3 [1–4] versus high: 2 [1–4]), as well as body image dissatisfaction
(low/moderate: −1 [−5–1] versus high: 1 [−4–3]), were not different (p > 0.05) between the groups ([Fig. 1]).
Fig. 1 Comparison between the groups classified according to the International Physical Activity
Questionnaire (IPAQ) as low/moderate and high, Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ), and silhouette scale of
young women. Graph A - BSQ; Graph B- current silhouette; Graph C- ideal silhouette;
Graph D- ideal silhouette minus the current silhouette. The line inside the box represents
the median of the data, the plus sign represents the average of the data, the lower
and upper rows of the boxes contain the data between the 25th and 75th percentiles,
and the lower and upper bars represent the minimum and maximum values respectively.
A: independent t-test. B, C, D: Mann-Whitney test.
The evaluation committee consisted of 20 individuals, 10 men and 10 women, with mean
ages of 29.90 ± 3.84 and 35.20 ± 8.72 years respectively, without significant difference
between the sexes (p = 0.096). The overall body esthetic score (low/moderate: 3.9 ± 1.0 versus high: 4.3 ± 1.4),
attributed only by men (low/moderate: 3.0 [1.7–5.4] versus high: 3.3 [1.5–6.2]), and
only by women (low/moderate: 4.3 [2.3–7.0] versus high: 4.9 [2.1–7.9 ]) did not differ
significantly (p > 0.05) between the sample groups ([Fig. 2]).
Fig. 2 Comparison between groups regarding esthetic scores A: general; B: attributed by men;
and C: attributed by women. The line inside the box represents the median of the data, the plus sign represents
the average of the data, the lower and upper rows of the boxes contain the data between
the 25th and 75th percentiles, and the lower and upper bars represent the minimum
and maximum values respectively. A: independent t-test. B, C: Mann-Whitney test.
Discussion
The present study aimed to compare the body self-image, the desired body image, as
well as the body esthetic of women with different levels of physical activity. The
main findings were that the practice of physical activity at different levels does
not influence the corporal satisfaction and the body esthetic of young women. The
groups studied did not present any differences regarding BSQ, which corroborates the
results found by Costa et al,[19] who stated that they did not obtain a correlation between physical exercise and
BSQ scores. Rech et al.[20] found a high level of body dissatisfaction among practitioners with moderate to
high levels of physical activity, contrary to the findings of the present study.
Our findings indicate that in both groups the women presented mild dissatisfaction
with body image according to the BSQ scores (low/moderate: 95.9 ± 35.6 versus high:
96.9 ± 30.4), with no statistical difference between the groups. Women with moderate
to strenuous levels of physical exercise, when compared with sedentary women, tend
to have better levels of body appreciation, internal body orientation, and functional
satisfaction with the body, contributing to a positive body image.[12]
Zarshenas et al.[1] demonstrated that only four weeks of aerobic exercise is already capable of improving
the self-assessment of the appearance of young women. According to Kruger et al,[21] the participants who were somewhat or not satisfied with their body size had a 13%
and 44% lower chance respectively of being regularly active than those satisfied with
their body size. When investigating the relationship between physical activity and
body image, one should be consider that physical activity may be a precedent or a
consequence of body image.[21]
It should be emphasized that the positive body image is related not only to low dissatisfaction
or lack of dissatisfaction, but to psychological well-being in the control of body
image.[22] In both groups, the women want to reduce their silhouettes by at least one position
on the scale thus corroborating the apparent consensus among other studies that women
wish to have smaller silhouettes than the ones they currently have.[23]
Uhlmann et al.[24] emphasize that, in recent years, there has been an increase in the popularity of
the “fit” beauty standard. In short, the ideal biotypes are defined as bodies that
are lean and have a little muscle tone, being compared with the classic fine ideal
that has importance in the body satisfaction of women.[25]
The level of physical activity did not significantly influence the body esthetic of
the women. Apparently, this is due to the similarity between the groups regarding
almost all anthropometric and body composition measurements related to body esthetic,
except for FM/height2. Contrary to our study, Zacagni et al.[26] demonstrated that the weekly amount of physical activity positively influences the
BMI of female university students.
Studies that evaluated the physical attractiveness of women found that most observers
favor leaner women as attractive, thus obtaining a strong negative relation between
the percentage of fat and the body esthetic.[9] It is believed that the BMI is a morphological predictors of women's body attractiveness.[8] In the same vein, Stephen and Perera[27]
[28] verified that men and women differentiate between BMI values that are adequate for
health and attractiveness, with the latter being estimated at lower values. Meta-analysis
studies demonstrate that physical exercise results only in a small loss of body fat
and weight,[28] which also suggests that the potential of physical activity in enhancing female
body esthetic is also small.
Due to the fact that the IPAQ questionnaire is a self-reported method, it makes the
subjective filling. However, it is considered a coherent means of measuring the levels
of physical activity among adults aged 18 to 65 years.[29]
Conclusion
The level of physical activity was not shown to be able to influence the body image
and body esthetic of women. In both groups, the women wanted to have smaller physiques;
therefore, regardless of the level of physical activity, they are always striving
for a different body shape.
