Social media can be a wealth of inspiration for those aspiring to live healthier, achieve their ideal body and enjoy life through improved wellness.  However, the constant stream of such posts could actually have the opposite effect, a study indicates.

Instead of uplifting the morale of social media users, these 'fitspiration' posts may actually compel some to engage in unhealthy behaviour, including eating disorders and compulsive exercise, in order to achieve a goal, reported Alpha Galileo. 

This is according to research detailed in a new report called 'Mobile Exercising and Tweeting the Pounds Away', published by Cogent Social Sciences Journal.

Authors of the report say they found a relationship between the consumption of various social media posts, and eating habits and exercise patterns.

"Plenty of previous work has documented the ways in which young people can be particularly vulnerable to the effects of media use in this area of body image 'But it seems from our study that "fitspiration" content is specifically related to risky behaviors like compulsive exercise and eating disorder symptoms, especially among those young people who use mobile apps on a frequent basis," said study author Veronica Hefner of the Georgia College & State University.

The study sampled 262 participants who were asked to fill out an online questionnaire which determined their exercise and eating habits as well as the frequency of their consumption of social media, including traditional blogs, microblogs, and mobile apps that specialise in nutrition and wellness.

According to the results of the study, while traditional blogs did not seem to have any impact on the users, it was a different story for those who regularly follow mobile phone applications and microblogs like Twitter and Instagram, which the researchers linked with compulsive exercise behaviours.

"The results of our study indicate that the use of mobile applications, such as Eating Thin, Lose It!, or Fasting Secret, is linked with reports of disordered eating and compulsive exercise. In other words, those young people who use these digital applications on their mobile devices are more likely than other individuals to engage in anorexia- or bulimia-related behaviors, as well as to reveal that they have to exercise in order to feel good about themselves," the research's public interest statement read.

It suggested that parents, teachers and influencers be more proactive in educating young people about the use of social media and their perceptions of beauty.