Friday 21 August 2015 11:03 am

British men feel pressured to attain dream physique

British men feel under increasing pressure to achieve a perfect physique, according to a new survey.

The research, conducted for Alpha Man magazine, found 82 per cent of men “feel more stressed about not having an impressive physique than they did five years ago”.

For the perfect body, 69 per cent said they would give up alcohol forever.

The survey, which involved 1,200 men, found 30 per cent of men even willing to sacrifice a year of their lives to attain their most desired body.

“It’s clear that more men than ever feel under intense pressure to have a better body”, says Joe Warner, Alpha Man magazine’s editorial director.

Our survey revealed that nearly 85 per cent of men have been on a diet and many have even resorted to skipping meals in a bid to trim down or worn compression underwear because they feel so self-conscious.

Only four percent of respondents said they were happy with their bodies.

When questioned on which part of their body men were most unhappy with, 50 per cent of respondents said it was their beer bellies.

The research comes a month after a global study conducted by YouGov found more than a third of people in the UK to be unhappy with their bodies. Many cited celebrity culture as the reason for a lack of confidence.

In October, the government launched the body confidence toolkit, which found almost half of adults believing what they can achieve in life is affected by their looks.

Jo Swinson, former women and equalities minister, said in the report:

Low body confidence has a real and damaging impact on health, education and aspirations.

We are working with key players in the retail, advertising, fashion and fitness industries to address the causes of low levels of body confidence in our society.

We must also support young people to develop resilience in the face of this pressure, and avoid a lifetime of poor self-esteem.