A number of women have been making headlines recently with “mirror fasts,” giving up looking at their reflections for a set amount of time. Marisa Gizzio, a 45-year-old stay-at-home-mom, did a two-day mirror fast hoping it would help her stop critiquing her body. Sociology graduate student Kjerstin Gruys’ fast began when she found that shopping for a wedding dress—perhaps the most mirror-centric activity of all—made her feel insecure and brought up old body issues. (Gruys ended up foregoing mirrors for a year—even on her wedding day!) And Autumn Whitefield-Madrano, a 36-year-old freelance writer who appeared on the Today show this morning, did it hoping to free up the brain space she normally devoted to critiquing her reflection for more important matters. She’s gone on two month-long mirror fasts in the past two years. So we couldn’t help but wonder: Does avoiding your image make you healthier? Whitefield-Madrano told Prevention, “My stress levels were definitely down.” Plus, she was able to do more weight-lifting reps when she wasn’t looking in the gym’s mirror. And Gizzio told The New York Times, “I needed to … start thinking about what I liked about myself, which made me feel more confident so I wanted to eat better and I wanted to exercise.” Taking a break from mirrors could help remind us that there are more important things to focus on, says Vivian Diller, PhD, a psychologist in New York City and author of Face It: What Women Really Feel as Their Looks Change. She says it could be a good behavioral tool to help us recognize how often we rely on mirrors for confirmation or criticism of ourselves, and help encourage us to rely on internal judgments, rather than external ones. Whether or not you decide to try your own mirror fast, here’s one thing to keep in mind: “We can take a break from mirrors in order to help us think about why we are so dependent upon them,” says Dr. Diller, “but the adjustments we make have to be on our own view of ourselves—not on the reflections created by mirrors.”
