Does your self-worth go down when the weather heats up?

Unsurprisingly, summer is peak season when it comes to body dissatisfaction, says science writer David Robson.

To alleviate self-consciousness about not having a perfect "beach body", it can help to develop body neutrality, he says.

Instead of their appearance, learning to focus on the function of our bodies and how they enable us to do the things we want is key, Robson tells Sunday Morning.

Robson is an award-winning columnist in publications such as New Scientist and author most recently of The Laws of Connection, 13 Social Strategies That Will Transform Your Life.

The idea of increasing self-consciousness about our bodies is backed by concrete evidence, he says. One study by the University of Melbourne looked at gay and bisexual men across the globe.

“They found that more than 70 percent reported higher levels of body dissatisfaction during the summer months compared to any other season.

“And it seemed to be that that was caused by the social media pressure to look your best.”

Further studies that made textual analyses of 12 million social media posts confirm this, he says.

“They found that those expressing kind of hatred or unhappiness with the body peaked in July in the Northern Hemisphere and December in the Southern Hemisphere.”

At 40, Robson is thankful to be "not especially self-conscious" in a swimsuit, but does worry about his appearance in general, especially his teeth, he is an advocate for body neutrality as a way of dealing with these feelings.

"Knowing that this seasonal body image dissatisfaction is a phenomenon, can itself help us to be a bit kinder to ourselves, because we recognise we're not alone in these insecurities."

Body neutrality stands in contrast to body positivity, he says.

“Body neutrality is just trying to move our attention away from the appearance of our bodies altogether.”

Better to focus on notions such as being lucky to be alive, he says.

“If the body is functioning, if it's relatively healthy, if we're able to do the things we want to do with our body, then we just we focus on that rather than the appearance.”

New research from Arizona State University showed that when people viewed body neutrality posts on social media, participants felt less self-objectification than those focused on body positivity, Robson says.

“They actually just started to feel a bit better about themselves. And they took that message on board, they stopped judging themselves purely on their appearance.”

On the path to body neutrality, David Robson believes it's worth listening to advocates like British actress Jameela Jamil, who, after a 20-year struggle with anorexia, has come to view her own body as merely a "vessel" for her brain and spirit.

"These anxieties are really shared by everyone, including the people you'd think would be least likely to experience them."