Want to be fit? Start with your mind 🤩
Have you heard about the Hotel Maids Challenge?
Hotel maids don't always realize their jobs qualify as exercise. When one group of overweight maids was told they exceeded the surgeon general's guidelines for fitness, they started losing weight.
No kidding!
Are you holding yourself back?
Let’s see if you could possibly use the placebo effect to help your own personal self 🤩
Today I’ll share with you how you may be able to work with your mind to accomplish surprising results; all based on my own personal experience as well as what I have witnessed with my own patients professionally.
Before I share this mind-blowing research, if you missed last week’s blog on“What doctors are being told about new fragrance research?”, you can use this link, Here.
What is the placebo effect, and how can it possibly work for you?
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Labor Day is around the corner and your waistline is as overstretched as your credit card. It's time to take action! What should you do?
A) Hit the gym.
B) Make a solemn pledge to never ingest another sweet for as long as you live.
C) Hit the gym and make a solemn pledge to never ingest another sweet for as long as you live, or ...
D) Sit around on the couch eating chocolate bonbons while genuinely believing that you are getting a lot of rigorous exercise.
The answer to this multiple-choice quiz might not be as straightforward as you think. In fact, a study by Harvard seems to challenge our basic assumptions about the relationship between the physical body and the mind. It certainly challenges our assumptions about the limits of the placebo effect.
In this study, researchers decided to look at whether our perception of how much exercise we are getting has any effect on how our bodies actually look. To do this, they studied hotel maids.
As any casual observer of the hospitality industry knows, hotel maids spend the majority of their days lugging heavy equipment around endless hallways. Basically, almost every moment of their working lives is spent engaged in some kind of physical activity.
But researchers found that most of these women don't see themselves as physically active. After surveying them, it found that 67% of maids reported they didn't exercise. More than one-third of those reported that they didn't get any exercise at all.
Given that they are exercising all day long, that seemed to be a bit bizarre.
Perceptions Matter
What was even more bizarre, was that despite the fact all of the women in the study far exceeded the Surgeon General's recommendation for daily exercise, the bodies of the women did not seem to benefit from their activity.
Researchers measured the maids' body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, blood pressure, weight and body mass index. They found that all of these indicators matched the maids' perceived amount of exercise, rather than their actual amount of exercise.
So, they decided to try another approach to verify their findings.
Researchers divided 84 maids into two groups. With one group, researchers carefully went through each of the tasks they did each day, explaining how many calories those tasks burned. They were informed that their activity already met the surgeon general's definition of an active lifestyle.
The other group was given no information at all.
One month later, the researchers returned to take physical measurements of the women and were surprised by what they found. In the group that had been educated, there was a decrease in their systolic blood pressure, weight, and waist-to-hip ratio — and a 10 percent drop in blood pressure.
One possible explanation is that the process of learning about the amount of exercise they were already getting somehow changed the maids' behavior. But the team surveyed both the women and their managers and found no indication that the maids had altered their routines in any way. Researchers believe that the change can be explained only by the change in the women's mindset.
Essentially, what we are talking about is called the “placebo effect”. Basically, that if you believe you are exercising, your body may respond as if it is. It's the same as if you believe you are getting medication when you are actually getting a sugar pill — your body can sometimes respond as if a placebo is actually working.
Is the Placebo Effect limited?
But many people were skeptical of the researchers conclusion, even though they were impressed with the physical changes in the maids.
Many believe that there is a very high likelihood that [the maids] behaved differently after they received the information, and they were being more active and eating more healthfully. And that resulted in their improvements in health.
There are people that don’t believe that placebos are capable of producing the kind of objective change in the physical body that occurred in the study; believing that a placebo can help change something like your perception of pain or perhaps your sense of whether you feel depressed, but it can't do something objective like shrink a tumor or cut three pounds off your waistline.
Or can it? YES, it can!
EXAMPLES OF VISUALIZATION AND THE PLACEBO EFFECT AT WORK
Many new studies have challenged the old assumption that the placebo effect alters only subjective perception, opening the door (or mind) to the possibility that, if done with genuine conviction, one mightbe able to sit around eating chocolate and still lose weight.
This may sound ludicrous, but this general concept has been used successfully in the past. Not necessarily using the chocolate scenario that get’s all our mouths watering, but in other studies.
For example, one study where researchers gave asthmatic patients a drug that actually made asthma worse. When they gave the drug to the patients, they told them that it relieves asthma.
A significant number of those patients said that their asthma actually got better when given the drug, and they even measured better when doctors measured their lung findings.
Here’s another example, have you ever heard how many world-class athletes use visualization to enhance their performance?
The benefits of visualization extend beyond mental well-being and into physical performance. Researchers have linked visualization to better performance outcomes for athletes. A 2022 study reviewed research on visualization for athletic performance, and determined that visualizing success has extraordinary benefits for athletes.
Professional boxing champion Muhammad Ali once remarked, “If my mind can conceive it and my heart can believe it, then I can achieve it.” There is scientific merit to that sentiment.
Elite athletes Conor McGregor and Michael Phelps use visualization to improve their sports performance.
During interviews, they each discussed that their brains can not tell the difference between an actual physical event and the vivid visualization of that same event. Explaining that, the reason for this is that when they experience something and when they visualize that same thing, they activate similar brain circuits. Because of this, visualizing desirable outcomes helps boost confidence, motivation, improves focus, practice movement sequences, increases strength, decreases reaction times, rewires their brains and makes epigenetic changes in their bodies.
These things, along with training, all complement and reinforce each other to improve performance and helps you achieve your goals.
In terms of increasing focus and decreasing reaction times, a study of 200 Martial artists found that visualization and self talk reduced reaction times from 0.737 seconds to 0.659 seconds on average, roughly 10%. Although this may not seem like much, this is often the difference between winning or losing. An explanation for how and why this happens is rooted in a part of our brain called the Reticular Activating System. The RAS acts as a filter. Out of all the information coming to our senses from the environment, it selects what will be noticed and given attention to by the conscious mind. By practicing visualization, you can prime your RAS to help you notice and focus on important information during your competitions.
In terms of practicing movement sequences, a Harvard study found that research subjects who mentally practiced a simple, five-finger piano exercise for two hours a day for five days made the same brain changes as the subjects who physically practiced the same activities, but without ever lifting a finger.
Remarkably, visualization can also increase strength. In a study of 30 people over a 12-week period, some regularly exercised their little fingers, while others just imagined doing the same thing. While the group that actually did the physical exercises increased the strength of their little fingers by 53 percent, the group that only imagined doing the same thing also increased the strength of their little fingers—by 35 percent.
In a similar experiment, ten volunteers each imagined flexing one of their biceps as hard as they could five times a week. In a few weeks, they increased their bicep muscle strength by 13.5 percent, and they maintained the gain for three months after the training stopped.
Another study observed the effects of visualization practices on muscle power, yielding noteworthy results. By simply thinking about training their muscles, participants increased their muscle strength by 35%. Researchers reported that the link between visualization and increased muscle strength was a result of neural pathways increasing the activation of muscle responses. You can read more on PubMed study, HERE.
So, the idea that visualization and the “placebo effect” only applies to subjective things is old school thinking. It IS possible, with the proper mindset, to change physical results 🤩
HOW CAN YOU USE VISUALIZATION AND THE PLACEBO EFFECT TO HELP YOU?
Research shows that people’s mindsets also influence the benefits they get from certain behaviors. For example, studies have shown that the physical effects of food depend on how caloric or indulgent it is in a person’s mind.
Studies have also demonstrated that viewing stress as a helpful part of life, rather than as harmful, is associated with better health, emotional well-being, and productivity at work.
In the end, the power of positive thinking will undoubtedly play an increasing role in health, healing, and our definition of effective medicine. For placebos, as understanding advances and beneficial applications widen, the future is nothing but bright.
The power of placebo can make mere sugar pills as effective as drugs in improving numerous ailments, including low-back pain, erectile dysfunction, arthritis, insomnia, Parkinson’s, nausea, depression, stress, and stress-related disorders. At the heart of placebo’s success is the role that thoughts can play in healing.
Breaking Down the Science
More scientists believe it is real and are more concerned with determining how placebo works, and how much. One current train of logic suggests that if placebo is beneficial enough on its own — without the side-effects — why would we need treatments and drugs?
Most people think of placebo as a simple matter of imagination, a case of “mind over matter”, although induced by thought or emotion, this placebo effect is entirely physiological. It is the activation of neurological and chemical processes in the body that serve to reduce symptoms or to promote healing. Read about another study here.
Placebo by Prescription, and the Morality of it….
Some people have raised questions about the morality of using placebos with patients who believe they’re receiving real drugs. In the past, doctors could only prescribe placebos if the ailment was so minor it could go without drug treatment, or if conventional intervention was unavailable for some reason.
Today, it’s important to know that placebos are being prescribed more often than people think. According to a study in The British Medical Journal, despite the ethical pitfalls associated with prescribing dummy medicine, some researchers estimate that as many as 50% of physicians in the U.S. have prescribed placebos without telling their patients. They do this for a variety of reasons, including the off-chance for some unknown pharmacological effect and the feeling that they should administer something, even if there aren’t any known treatments.
Meanwhile, as study of the Placebo Effect continues, drug companies haven’t refrained from attempting to profit on this apparently inherent human capacity for self-healing. Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first prescription placebo. Eleven pharmaceutical companies have created placebo pills or liquids.
The first to hit the market, Sucrosa from AstraZeneca is basically powdered sugar and ranges in doses from one to 40,000 milligrams. Analysts expect Sucrosa to pull in sales of more than $25 billion a year.
GlaxoSmithKline is hot on the heels with two placebo versions of their own. One’s a 40-mg pill called Appeasor, marketed to ages 55 and up. The other’s a cola-flavoured beverage, Inertia, for middle-aged women.
Finally, lest they miss out, Eli Lilly’s Pacifex, is a green 400-mg triangular tablet.
Your Personal Power
What seems to be forgotten amid all this special packaging is the fact that placebo (belief) lies within each and every one of us. Any healing journey should automatically contain the mental, emotional, or spiritual components.
Power of Placebo. Mind over matter. Call it what you wish…..
IT IS possible to improve the body’s immune response and physical fitness by fostering positive emotions and MINDSET. To some people, this built-in power is not only reassuring, but also worth cultivating.
THE BOTTOM LINE
“In other words, the mind can HEAL you, or KILL you. With toxic thoughts, we make ourselves ill. With positive thoughts, we can heal ourselves!”
“The benefits of visualization extend beyond mental well-being and into physical performance. Researchers have linked visualization to better performance outcomes for athletes, and non-athletes alike.”
“To use our own thoughts is one of the most powerful and least damaging therapies out there. If you believe it works, it works. Why not use it?”
The key takeaway from today is that there are countless benefits to visualizing and the placebo effect; and you would be at a disadvantage if you did not make use of them.
The power of placebo can make mere sugar pills as effective as drugs in improving numerous ailments, including low-back pain, erectile dysfunction, arthritis, insomnia, Parkinson’s, nausea, depression, stress, and stress-related disorders. At the heart of placebo’s success is the role that thoughts can play in healing.
Remarkably, visualization can also increase strength!
The Power of your MINDSET is something you can tap into daily. Whether you are healthy with an amazing immune system, recovering from illness, or striving to make better decisions and taking back control of your life, we are here to help you along the way.
As always, if you’d like to talk more about what we covered in my newsletter today, make an appointment with me using the link:HERE.
Or, you can give me a call at (973) 210-3838
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