9/21/2023 0 Comments Healthier mindset![]() Habits are learned progressively and usually performed unconsciously. Habits are the brain’s way of helping us to simultaneously memorise and repeat the things we do on a regular basis – we instinctively reach for the light switch upon entering a darkened room, looking both ways before crossing the road (at least if we were taught the green cross code!!). So how do we learn to change our habits? How do we recognise whether they are “bad” or “good” in the first place? Some are obvious – we know we probably shouldn’t be eating junk food – particularly before bed! Whilst others may not be quite so obvious at first. Taking charge of our lives, and making the necessary changes to get where we want to be can be daunting. These are not problems that we should accept as a part of ‘the ageing process’ and most are completely avoidable, if only we ate what our bodies were designed for. You may have followed the dietary guidelines religiously – eating a low fat, healthy whole grains, plenty of fruit and veg, minimal red meat diet for many years, only to find yourself overweight, unhealthy and suffering from all sorts of issues gut health problems, arthritis, lack of adequate muscle tissue, too much body fat, too much visceral fat, osteoporosis. We now have an epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes, as well as many other chronic diseases that are related to our lifestyle. There is a lot of ‘conventional wisdom’ that many of us have grown up with that have led to us thinking we are following a healthy guideline, but in reality the evidence for it was either very poor, or never there, leaving us in a poor state of health. Whilst we may believe that we eat “healthily”, once we break it down (using a food log for a week can be extremely eye-opening), we often discover that actually our food intake is not quite what we “think” it is. Even something as basic as our eating habits. Sometimes it is necessary to completely “re-learn’ how to do something. However, if you are of the view that “life begins at 40” and you are excited about the next chapter of your life, you are far more likely to participate in events, be more active and generally look after your health. ![]() Your abilities then become more impaired and it becomes a vicious cycle. Likewise, if you believe that you are “old” as soon as you hit your 40’s and therefore unable to do the same kind of exercise that you did in your 20s and 30s, even though you do not have any physical impediment to prevent you, then your health will likely start to deteriorate, simply because you BEHAVE as if you are old. If you have negative expectations then you can experience what is known as nocebo – basically the opposite of placebo – whereupon the physiological effect of a treatment is reduced based on your belief – so you may, in fact, be as active as your friends, but believe that you aren’t and therefore the effects of what you are doing are diminished. If we feel our friends are doing more than us it can make us disheartened and affect our motivation. What we believe about ourselves can become a self-fulfilling prophesy. Conversely, if you believe you are fitter than your peers, you are 1.10 times more likely to reduce your alcohol intake and 1.18 times more likely to exercise more. If this is producing stress, and therefore high cortisol levels, this could be enough to actually put you at a higher health risk.Īnother explanation is that if you believe yourself to be an active person, but then compare yourself to those around you who are exercising more than you, then you are more likely to lose motivation and actually reduce the amount of exercise that you are doing. One explanation for this could simply be the level of stress incurred when perceiving yourself as not being as active or health conscious as those around you. Now I am not saying this is ideal and that we should all just “think” our way fit, but a study done at Stanford University found that the mortality risk for those who perceived themselves as less active than their peers was a whopping 71% higher! The way that you think about your health and fitness can be enough to affect your success – even when you aren’t actually exercising as much as others. ![]() It is now necessary to dig deep and really start to look at your mindset. But what happens when this surge of motivation starts to wane? Typically by the end of February those New Year resolutions have fallen by the wayside and you are back to bad habits. ![]() January typically sees individuals heading for the gym, donning running shoes, purchasing protein shakes and dialling in their nutrition. Making healthy choices on a daily basis will eventually lead to healthy habits.
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