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THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE POWER OF MINDSET
Mindset is a buzzy word these days—do a quick keyword search, and you’ll get an endless list of TED Talks and recently published books on the topic. But scan through the titles and you’ll notice a theme: Most of the work around mindset focuses on its power to help you succeed, either in your professional or your personal life.
We’re fascinated by that aspect, but there’s another leg of mindset research that doesn’t get as much attention and, in some ways, is even more mind-bogglingly interesting: The power of mindset to affect our physical wellbeing. The findings are simple and astounding: A shift in mindset can actually make you physically healthier.
There are two mic-drop studies that show the profound impact mindset can have on our physical wellbeing. The first study followed 84 female room attendants working in seven different hotels. The women were divided into two groups. One group was told that the work they do (cleaning hotel rooms) is good exercise and satisfies the Surgeon General’s recommendations for an active lifestyle. The other group wasn’t given this information. What happened? “Although actual behavior did not change, 4 weeks after the intervention, the informed group perceived themselves to be getting significantly more exercise than before. As a result, compared with the control group, they showed a decrease in weight, blood pressure, body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, and body-mass index.”
In other words, these groups performed the exact same amount of physical activity, but the group with the positive mindset showed healthier physical benefits.
The second study documented the activity levels, physical health, and personal background of 61,141 adults and asked the participants: “Would you say that you are physically more active, less active, or about equally as active as other people your age?” They then followed these adults for up to 21 years. The findings: Remarkably, people’s perception of how active they were—not how active they actually were—was predictive of their risk of premature death decades later.
The numbers are alarming: People who believed themselves to be less active than other people their age were 71 percent more likely to die prematurely than the people who believed themselves to be more active than their peers.
Does all of this mean that we don’t need to exercise if we simply adapt a mindset that we’re physically active? Not at all—there’s endless research to show us that physical activity is crucial to our health.
But what we can learn from these studies is that our minds and our bodies do not operate as two separate entities. They are inextricably linked; if one is neglected, the other will falter.
That’s why our mission at barre3—to teach people to be balanced in body and empowered from within—does not stop with the physical. Instead, we place equal importance on both the body and the mind, understanding that it is only when we exercise both that we can truly thrive.
Ready to put the power of mindset to practice? Sign up for our New Client Special for 2 weeks of unlimited studio classes or try a 15-day free trial of barre3 Online.
Mindset is a buzzy word these days—do a quick keyword search, and you’ll get an endless list of TED Talks and recently published books on the topic. But scan through the titles and you’ll notice a theme: Most of the work around mindset focuses on its power to help you succeed, either in your professional or your personal life.
We’re fascinated by that aspect, but there’s another leg of mindset research that doesn’t get as much attention and, in some ways, is even more mind-bogglingly interesting: The power of mindset to affect our physical wellbeing. The findings are simple and astounding: A shift in mindset can actually make you physically healthier.
There are two mic-drop studies that show the profound impact mindset can have on our physical wellbeing. The first study followed 84 female room attendants working in seven different hotels. The women were divided into two groups. One group was told that the work they do (cleaning hotel rooms) is good exercise and satisfies the Surgeon General’s recommendations for an active lifestyle. The other group wasn’t given this information. What happened? “Although actual behavior did not change, 4 weeks after the intervention, the informed group perceived themselves to be getting significantly more exercise than before. As a result, compared with the control group, they showed a decrease in weight, blood pressure, body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, and body-mass index.”
In other words, these groups performed the exact same amount of physical activity, but the group with the positive mindset showed healthier physical benefits.
The second study documented the activity levels, physical health, and personal background of 61,141 adults and asked the participants: “Would you say that you are physically more active, less active, or about equally as active as other people your age?” They then followed these adults for up to 21 years. The findings: Remarkably, people’s perception of how active they were—not how active they actually were—was predictive of their risk of premature death decades later.
The numbers are alarming: People who believed themselves to be less active than other people their age were 71 percent more likely to die prematurely than the people who believed themselves to be more active than their peers.
Does all of this mean that we don’t need to exercise if we simply adapt a mindset that we’re physically active? Not at all—there’s endless research to show us that physical activity is crucial to our health.
But what we can learn from these studies is that our minds and our bodies do not operate as two separate entities. They are inextricably linked; if one is neglected, the other will falter.
That’s why our mission at barre3—to teach people to be balanced in body and empowered from within—does not stop with the physical. Instead, we place equal importance on both the body and the mind, understanding that it is only when we exercise both that we can truly thrive.
Ready to put the power of mindset to practice? Sign up for our New Client Special for 2 weeks of unlimited studio classes or try a 15-day free trial of barre3 Online.
