Magic of Believing

In an earlier post I suggested that just by changing our perception of time, we can possibly speed time up, or slow it down.   But what about our physical bodies?  Do our thoughts affect our health?

I remember an interesting article I read having to do with Hotel Maids.  A Harvard psychologist, Ellen Langer, decided to look at whether our perception, or belief, of how much exercise we are getting has any effect on how our bodies actually look. To do this, she studied hotel maids.

Hotel Maids actually have a pretty tough job, pushing around all that equipment every day, cleaning, and vacuuming every room.  They actually get quite a bit of exercise, more than the US Surgeon General’s daily recommendation in fact.

But Langer found that most of these women did not see themselves as physically active. She did a survey and found that 67 percent reported they didn’t exercise. More than one-third of those reported they didn’t get any exercise at all.

“Given that they are exercising all day long,” Langer says, “that seemed to be bizarre.”

So she took 84 Hotel Maids, and measured their weight, blood pressure, body fat, and body mass index.  Then she split them into two groups and sent them on their way to work.  The control group went about their work as normal.

But the second group, they were actually followed around by the group of researchers.  They noted each of the tasks the Maids did each day, and explained how many calories they were actually burning.  They were also informed that their daily activities already met the surgeon general’s definition of an active lifestyle.

The result?  One month latter all 84 Maids were measured again.  The control group saw no change.  But the other group……. the group that were shown just how much exercising they were already getting.……….there was a decrease in their systolic blood pressure, weight, waist-to-hip ratio — and a 10 percent drop in blood pressure.

Did they actually work any harder than the control group?  No.  Same daily tasks.  Same diets, same everything.  The only change was now they realized they were exercising.  They changed their perceptions, or beliefs.  They were made to realize just how much exercise they were already getting each day, and their body’s responded.

The only thing that changed was their beliefs.

Almost makes you want to try and ‘think’ yourself thin…doesn’t it.  What do you have to lose?