London - If you cringe at the thought of looking in the mirror in the morning, you’re not alone.
More than 90 percent of women in their 40s and 50s are so fed up with their image, they suffer what experts have dubbed “Mid-life Mirror Angst Syndrome”, a study claims.
Just nine percent of those over 50 felt happy with what they see in the mirror compared with 43 percent of 20-somethings.
A survey of 1,200 women found that changes wrought by age, combined with a youth-obsessed fashion industry, led to a dramatic drop in body confidence for women the older they get.
In fact, all of those in their middle age said they wanted to change something about their current figure, with a flatter stomach at the top of the wish list. This was followed by toned arms and cellulite-free legs.
The findings were published in the Invisible Women Study, commissioned by online fashion retailer isme.com.
Behaviour psychologist Susan Quilliam said the study pointed to the growing numbers of women suffering from Mid-life Mirror Angst Syndrome whereby they felt so unhappy in their own skin that many avoided their reflection.
“All the studies show that most women reach the peak of their mental, emotional and relationship effectiveness as they reach mid-life”, she said. “Having brought up a family, become confident in their jobs, reached a state of wise comfort with their lives, they feel good about the future.
“Sadly the same can’t be said for their feelings about their bodies. We live in an age where female beauty is defined as young a definition that has become an obsession in society, and particularly in the media. There’s no psychological underpinning for this, but the fact remains that at mid-life, women can feel invisible or at worse, unattractive.”
The study asked women to describe themselves, with half of the over 50s opting for “average” or “frumpy”, while women in their 20s were most likely to consider themselves “attractive”.
* One in four women have made themselves ill by dieting, a report has revealed.
Many reported dizziness, stomach upsets or mood swings after a dramatic and often unhealthy change in their eating habits. The study, by Centrum Multivitamins looked into the diet habits of, 2,000 women aged 18 to 65. It found other ailments such as greasy skin, fatigue and bloating were common among women who diet regularly. - Daily Mail