Everyone knows that the mind affects the body, but now there is scientific research to back it up. Where you put your mind, your body goes. This explains the placebo effect, when there is a positive result even though nothing has really changed, as well as spontaneous remissions in people diagnosed with terminal illnesses.
Ellen Langer of the Harvard Psychology Dept. has been studying mindfulness since the 1970s. She has done research on how thinking young keeps you young and on the concept of mind over matter. She reports that she studied a group of 84 chambermaids who all stated that they did not exercise. She told 42 chambermaids that their work was exercise and that making a bed is like working out on a machine. Before and after measurements showed that 3 months later their waists got slimmer and their blood pressure dropped. The other 42 who were not told that their work was exercise showed no appreciable difference in blood pressure or waist to hip ratio.
When Langer had men in their late 70s live as if it was 20 years ago for a few days, their memory, sight, hearing and strength improved.
Anderson Cooper attends a mindfulness retreat with Jon Kabat Zinn finds he enjoys it. In fact, he says that it has changed his life. Ohio Congressman TIm Ryan is encouraging others in Congress to take a minute to stop and breath. This was on 60 minutes: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mindfulness-anderson-cooper-60-minutes/
Wouldn’t it be a different world if mindfulness becomes mainstream?
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Reblogged this on Yeditepe Üniversitesi Psikoloji Topluluğu.
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