2023-06-26 03:20:00
Self-deception, confirmation biases, seeing what we want to see, and hearing only what is convenient for us are all ways to escape from reality. It is not a recommended practice, except in one circumstance, the only one where cognitive distortion does seem to work: self-perception of our physical activity. More and more studies show that the right frame of mind to improve our physical condition does not have to fit the truth.
That is, if you are sedentary and you are convinced that you cannot be anything else, you probably will not even try to change. He will resign himself to his fate as a slow person, without nerve and without muscle tone. José Carrascosa, a sports psychologist, sums it up this way: “You tend to meet your own expectations. Telling yourself: ‘I’ve never exercised’ or ‘I’m not going to walk because I get tired quickly’ is entering a loop of self-limiting thoughts”. Carrascosa’s job is just to change that frame of mind. And no one demands that you conform one hundred percent to reality.
Sports Science research has found an unexpected benefit in devices that record vital signs such as daily steps and hours of sleep. When the user believes that he has a very sedentary life and the device disproves this with its metrics, that person regains self-esteem and improves their health data. It was demonstrated in a study recent where several people changed the perception they had of their quality of life after a device recorded their physical activity.
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In the research, 162 adults who had never counted their daily steps allowed an electronic device to monitor them for four weeks. A first group was given a watch that inflated accounting and, for example, made its users believe that they had walked 9,800 steps when in reality they had only taken 7,000 real steps. The second group was given a device that did the opposite: it reduced their steps by 40%, making those who had taken those same 7,000 real steps think that they walked about 4,200 steps a day. The other two groups in the study were given watches that didn’t lie and exactly counted actual steps.
At the end of the trial, everyone who believed they had reached 7,000 steps a day, whether true or not, had better self-esteem. When they began to measure their activity, they had also begun to watch their diet and were consuming fewer high-fat foods. His fitness had improved even though his activity remained the same. The only substantial change recorded by the researchers was their frame of mind, they felt that they were getting “enough” exercise, that their levels of physical activity had improved and, therefore, they were healthier. And this worked as a placebo effect.
On the other hand, those who had only reached 4,000 steps (remember that they wore a trick watch) were sad, sunk in misery. They had low self-esteem, a mood bordering on depression, ate worse, and had small increases in resting heart rate and blood pressure. All this despite the fact that their step count was exactly the same as the rest of the groups, but they did not know it. So this group resigned themselves to their fate of being slow, sedentary and in poor health.
A known study of 2007, signed by Alia Crum, director of the Mind & Body Lab at Stanford University, had already explored the impact that the mere belief of leading an active life had on health. The experiment recruited 84 hotel maids who believed they were sedentary, and who argued that their job would never allow them to take time off to go to a gym and improve their health. Crum and her team made these women see that they were “quite active.” They were shown with statistics that their work tasks such as changing bedding, vacuuming, or lifting objects exceeded the daily physical activity recommended by the health authorities, but they did not know it. A month later, the study measurements showed that their body fat and blood pressure had decreased, although everything in their lives remained the same, except the idea they had of themselves and their caloric expenditure.
This same team from Stanford University demonstrated in another job that men and women who considered themselves more sedentary than others their age had a higher risk of premature death than those who perceived themselves as more active, regardless of whether or not both perceptions were true. The authors of these works clarify that the improvements in health indicators are small, so it cannot be considered that changing the mental framework is sufficient or can replace exercise, although it does seem relevant to them that only with a change in perception can generate a change of attitude favorable to active life.
These authors recommend taking a pencil and paper and writing down our physical activity: if we walk, if we go up the stairs, if we go to the gym or take the dog out. We must be exhaustive with the hours and minutes. Some household chores that are not normally considered physical exercise should be included in this list. It’s about getting a photo that is as accurate as possible of our physical activity before putting on the heavy label of sedentary.
“It is a self-limiting thought, which can also be changed and replaced by other ideas”, indicates Carrascosa, who assures that it is not so “difficult” to achieve it, although he does not sign up for the self-deception strategy, except if it serves as motivation. “If someone wants to be an active person, it will not be enough for them to think that they are, they will have to design a gradual plan of physical activity that leaves them feeling tired, but not exhausted, and that increases in time and rhythm.” But sooner or later he will have to stop thinking that he is a denial, a package, that he is injured, that the sport is not made for him. Strong statements about ourselves work like a self-fulfilling prophecy. “The most difficult negative thought to deactivate, confirms the psychologist, is the innocent, but resounding, ‘I am like this’”.
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