Old-Age Body Satisfaction Depends on Gender

The conclusions of a new scientific study indicate that men and women tend to view they way their bodies function and look – a measure called body satisfaction – differently as they age. The same work revealed that performing physical activities boosts body satisfaction for both genders.

The new investigation was carried out by scientists at the Baylor University, who say that people tend to register an interesting shift from appearance to functionality when it comes to analyzing how satisfied they are with their bodies.

Appearances no longer take precedence for either men and women once they become seniors, researchers say. This shift was found to be most consistent in women, most of which tend to be very preoccupied with the way they look in their earlier years.

The research effort also revealed that men tended to consider satisfaction with body functionality more important then women did. Overall, both genders were preoccupied with this, but men more so than women, PsychCentral reports.

“It was interesting that even though body appearance satisfaction seems to be more important for younger populations, especially women, it is still important and relevant among older adults,” Baylor professor and study author Renee Umstattd, PhD, says.

“In one way this is a little disheartening to think that women and men are still wrestling with being satisfied with the appearance of their bodies, even after a life full of various points of meaning,” the investigator goes on to say.

“From another angle, the study provides support to promote increased physical activity for older adults and provide effective programming to increase physical activity rates of older adults,” she adds.

“Increases in physical activity improve satisfaction in both body appearance and function,” the team leader adds. The study is detailed in the latest online issue of the esteemed scientific journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

Physical activity was also tied to a reduction in the risk of people developing a multitude of chronic diseases, so this is an added bonus. Body function and body appearance satisfaction was highest in people who were active.

The same held true for those who had normal body-mass indexes (BMI), better baseline health ratings and who were younger. Interestingly, reduced depression symptoms was also found to improve seniors' opinions about their bodies, regardless of gender.

Researchers say that the average age in the study group – about 1,900 participants – was 69.