The typical college student avoids 8 AM classes and takes every opportunity for a nap. But at some point, everybody has to get up and start their day. For some, that means rolling out the entire glam kit. For others, it means digging out the one clean pair of leggings and calling it a day.
Related: How to Get Away With Wearing Leggings Every Day This Week
What you may not realize is that this difference in time spent on getting ready could actually correlate to someone’s level of self-esteem. Yahoo Health and Ipsos recently studied almost 2,000 people ages 13 to 64 and discovered that the more time someone spends in the morning getting ready, the higher the chance is that they feel badly about their appearance.
The study found that the average woman spends 22.5 minutes getting ready, which indicates a negative or neutral body image when compared with a more body-positive woman, who takes 18.7 minutes to get ready. Women who are body-ambivalent, meaning they fluctuate between a positive and negative view of their body, use the most time to get ready in the morning at 26.1 minutes.
Men were also surveyed, with similar but more distinct results. Men with negative body image spent 23.3 minutes getting ready, followed closely by body-ambivalent men at 20.8 minutes. However, body-positive and body-neutral men only took 15 minutes to get ready for the day. Men with positive body image spent almost ten minutes less to get ready than those with negative self-esteem.
Whether you like to take on the day with a fresh face or opt for the “I woke up like this” look, just remember that whatever you do, do it for you—regardless of the opinions of others.