One of the single most appealing aspects of growing older is the subsequent dwindling of our inclination to be overly vain when it comes to the way that we look.
Vanity is a seemingly inescapable human condition that has the ability to plague us throughout our lives. At its worst, it makes us dwell on our appearance and worry about how we stack up compared to others, creating unwanted anxiety and a variety of unpleasant neurosis. Even at its best, vanity does nothing more than provide us with a disproportionate (and sometimes detrimental) amount of pride or self-satisfaction regarding our attractiveness and/or accomplishments.
In the modern age, this very common quality has led to an overemphasis being placed on the idea of maintaining or achieving a so-called “ideal weight.” For decades, men and especially women have fallen victim to a plethora of fitness crazes and fad diets designed to make us look like the wafer-thin models that are pervasive in our multi-media world. This can lead to bouts of depression about the displeasure we have toward our own outward appearance and, in some more extreme and unfortunate cases, to the occurrence of psychological disorders, particularly among women.
Most reasonable people see these facts lend credence to the notion that placing too much emphasis on your body fat percentage is a negative thing, and rightfully so. However, according to a new study, there may actually be a worthy reason for aging women to keep body fat percentage top of mind. A study presented at The Endocrine Society’s 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco suggests that losing fat improves memory in older, overweight women.
Previous studies have shown that obese women have inferior episodic memory (i.e. the ability to recall events that happen throughout one’s life) when compared to those who are not obese. But this new study found that the brain regions known to be vital for memory tasks literally change for the better when older women manage to lose excess weight.
“Our findings suggest that obesity-associated impairments in memory function are reversible, adding incentive for weight loss,” says the study’s lead author, Dr. Andreas Pettersson from the Umea University in Sweden. She adds that according to pre and post-study brain scans of participants, both general memory performance and overall recall improved as a direct result of this weight loss.
None of this is to suggest that vanity is at all a positive attribute; indubitably, it’s almost always detrimental to one’s psyche and sense of wellbeing. But… for a woman who is advancing in age and possibly dress size, keeping your body fat in check IS something that you should at the very least be cognizant about.
Moral of the story: when it comes to your body fat content, IT SHOULD NEVER MATTER WHAT OTHERS THINK, IT SHOULD ONLY MATTER HOW WELL YOU THINK!