Mind

The Edge’s Megan Annear opens up about body image

The radio presenter reveals her battle with societal pressures to be thin.
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In the upcoming episode of In my mind, a ground-breaking new series exploring Kiwi female mental health – The Edge radio presenter and Youtube vlogger Megan Annear opens up about pressures she has faced to conform to a certain look and size.

“As women, we’re objectified. We’re meant to be a certain way, to be attractive and successful,” says Megan in the trailer for the episode.

The In my mind series focuses on how unhealthy expectations of what a woman should be like and what they should be doing, are impacting their mental health.

According to the documentary, the expectation that women must be able to do it all or that they must strive to be perfect is the driving force behind the growing anxiety epidemic within society.

“We have a very dominant narrative that says skinny is healthy, and fat is bad. We’re just going further and further into depression and anxiety – not good mental health states”, says nurse and obesity and weight loss coach, Kate Berridge.

“In society, we think it is unwanted, and socially unacceptable to be bigger.”

Featuring raw and honest interviews of women from New Zealand and Australia in combination with expert opinions, the four-part series addresses stress, anxiety and mental health.

Each episode tackles a different pressure that women today are facing and provides techniques to assist with living in this challenging environment filled with expectations to be ‘everything’ to everyone.

Airing on Sunday, July 30 at 8:30am, the Body episode explores the effects that body pressures have on women and why it must stop.

Episode 1 – Social Obsession

This episode addresses how although we are more connected than ever, with our smart phones and laptops at our beck and call and the multiple platforms of social media available, we are also feeling more isolated and anxious than ever.

By exploring the addictive nature of social media, we are able to see the impact it is having on our mental health.

Episode 2 – Motherhood

This episode reveals how one of the most expected parts of motherhood, sleep deprivation, can actually have a negative and lasting effect on our brains and why being a mum in society today is harder than ever.

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