These guys really need a lift.
Macho men who are super into lifting weights at the gym are more likely to struggle with depression, weekend binge drinking, problematic dieting and body image issues, according to a new study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Harvard University.
It’s the first study of its kind to show the relationships between men wanting to look ripped and the potential psychological drawbacks, researchers say. Typically, body image studies focus on women attaining a skinny ideal.
“Parents’ alarm bells should go off if they have a youngster who’s at the gym everyday, who just wants to eat chicken and broccoli and who consumes protein shakes or supplements all the time,” says Trine Tetlie Eik-Nes, associate professor in NTNU’s Department of Neuromedicine and movement science, in a statement.
Eik-Nes says that if someone’s “whole world is about their workouts,” parents or friends should ask “about what they’re actually training for.”
The study, which was published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, surveyed 2,460 men, ages 18 to 32.
Ten percent of the men had a body image disorder, believing that they are too fat and want to be thinner, and 1 in 3 of them have been on a diet not related to obesity.
“Girls are supposed to be thin and have small waistlines,” Eik-Nes says. “Boys should have wide shoulders and big muscles. Those are the narrow ideals that young people grow up with today. It turns out that this unrealistic body image is as challenging for men as for women.”