Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility by Langer Ellen J

Author:Langer, Ellen J. [Langer, Ellen J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780345514806
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2009-05-04T00:00:00+00:00

Mindful Exercise

More recently, my student Ali Crum and I took this idea of “putting the mind in a healthy place” to have a positive effect on the body in a very different direction.17 We were curious as to whether some or all of the health benefits attributed to exercise were actually a function of our mindsets regarding the health benefits of exercise. Before looking at the dramatic results we found, let’s look at some of the recent findings regarding the benefits of exercise to help understand the potential importance of our findings.

Probably for several reasons, today, twenty-eight countries have healthy life expectancies that exceed those of the United States. (The highest is in Japan, which exceeds the United States by about five years.) How could we become a healthier culture? Many believe that if we were not so sedentary, we would be healthier. Systematic research on exercise and physical health began in the 1950s, focusing on occupational exertion. Dr. Jeremy Morris, first professor of social medicine at the London Hospital Medical College, and colleagues conducted the first formal, empirical study comparing the cardiovascular heath of double-decker bus drivers to conductors. The study found significant results indicating lower rates of heart disease for the conductors, who ran up and down the stairs, versus the drivers who sat all day. The study ignited a new flurry in medical research focusing on the health effects of exercise.18

Physical activity has been shown to reduce the risk of dying prematurely. It has been estimated that about 250,000 deaths per year in the United States are attributable to lack of regular physical activity. Indeed, several longitudinal, correlational studies have indicated that the mortality rate is higher in people who report less physical activity or who have significantly lower baseline levels of cardiovascular fitness.19 These studies are only suggestive since they were not controlled experiments. That being said, one study indicated that among middle-aged Harvard male alumni who were sedentary in 1962, those who took up moderately intense sports as physical activity during the study’s eleven-year follow-up had a 23 percent lower death rate.20 More recently, a study investigated seven thousand men and women ages twenty-nine to seventy-nine and found that increasing the amount of physical activity from low to moderate was associated with a reduced risk of death.21 Lower risks of diabetes, cancer, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, and obesity-related diseases have all been shown to have been associated with exercise. Similar findings now exist for psychological issues such as stress and depression. It certainly looks like exercise matters.

In 1995, after an extensive review of the literature, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued new guidelines for all Americans: every adult should get thirty minutes or more of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, preferably all, days of the week.22

Studies suggest that physical activity doesn’t need to be all in one session but can be accumulated throughout the day to be beneficial. While the exact amounts are debatable, the minimal or reasonable amount of exercise

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