Dr. Oz's Ultimate Beauty Test

By Dr. Mehmet Oz
Oprah.com | From the November 2008 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine

"Inner beauty" isn't just one of those buzz phrases people use to compensate for a so-so exterior. If you feel and act like a million bucks—both inside and out—the result will be a seriously jaw-dropping union.

Take the test! Dr. Oz's beauty quiz
Improve your score: 6 YOU-Q tools
Plus: Try the workout that helps you feel beautiful—inside and out

When we see a gorgeous person, somewhere deep in our brains an alarm goes off telling us we've struck gold. One might argue—many do—that we place too much importance on physical beauty, but the fact is, we're hardwired to respond to it. From the time humans started walking around with our body-hair parkas and leafy lingerie, beauty has been an evolutionary tool we called on to assess whether a potential mate was healthy and fertile. To that end, attractiveness is about the survival of the species, which is why, research shows, even today we generally judge good-looking people to be about twice as capable and exciting as those who are less visually appealing.

In other words, it makes evolutionary sense to care about beauty. What's a mistake is to assume beauty is only external. After all, someone may be a knockout, but if she is in pain, lacks energy, is always unhappy or spiritually disconnected, her attractiveness will fade fast.

We've broken beauty down into three essential pieces: looking, feeling, and being beautiful. And we have developed what we call the YOU-Q test to help you identify areas to focus on in order to become happier with yourself. One major cause for dissatisfaction, we know, is when the "current you" (who you are now) and the "potential you" (the person you'd ideally like to be) are nothing alike. The gap between them is what your YOU-Q score will measure. (Fortunately, unlike an IQ, you can improve your YOU-Q score, and we'll give you a few tools to get started.) As you close the gap, you'll feel more authentically beautiful and content. To take the test, just warm up your mouse, along with your honesty. Get started here.

Adapted from You: Being Beautiful, by Michael F. Roizen, MD, and Mehmet C. Oz, MD. Copyright © 2008 by Michael F. Roizen, MD, and Oz Works, LLC. Reprinted by permission of Free Press, a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc.

Printed from Oprah.com on Saturday, May 25, 2013