More and more evidence is proving what we’ve been told our whole lives is true; “You are what you think.” Hopefully, after you read this you’ll be more careful about what you think about because it can fundamentally affect you and your health!
It’s now a few years old, but in 2011 the “milkshake study” was published. The same exact milkshake was given to the subjects on 2 separate occasions, except the labels were different each time. One label was “indulgent” and stated the milkshake was high calorie and fat. The other label on the exact same milkshake was “sensible” and was described as low calorie and low fat. Amazingly enough, the milkshake was metabolized differently in the subjects even though the ingredients were exactly the same. The Indulgent labeled shake produced a significant decrease in the levels of Grehlin, one of our body’s “hunger hormones”. The drop in the hunger hormone was 3 times greater than in the sensible labeled milkshake. When drinking what was believed to be a high fat, high calorie shake the body was fooled by the mind and was made to feel fuller, or more satiated. The difference in how the milkshake was metabolized in the body was physiological. The bottom line is what the body believed it was consuming affected how it was metabolized in the digestive system.
Additional studies have shown that the placebo effect in medications can be as high as 50%. When a patient’s medical doctor says that medication is effective for their ailment, the mind believes it and feels better even though they are only consuming a sugar pill. What is even more amazing is that the placebo effect exists even when the patient is told they are getting a placebo. This is called an open-label placebo. Sounds crazy, that even when they are told they are taking a sugar pill, many patients feel better.
These are just a few examples of research documenting that your mind is pretty powerful and what you say, think and hear can influence you in ways that you never thought possible. To read more about how your mind and body are affected by your thoughts, actions and beliefs all you need to do is Goggle positive thinking studies. I got over 9 million results in less than half a second. The take away is that the brain is more powerful than we realize. You need to be careful about what you say, especially your “self-speak” and you should focus on positive and empowering thoughts. It’s not always easy to be positive. You may have developed bad thought habits over the years and will need to make a conscious effort to be positive.
I try to be positive in both my personal and professional life. Chiropractic care is not a placebo, but I have found during my 34 years in practice what I say and how I say it can influence and improve how my patient’s respond to treatment. For those patient’s I feel I can help, I focus my explanations in realistic terms, but always try to focus on the positive changes that will happen in their bodies as they receive their chiropractic treatments. I remind my patient that it takes time to get healthy especially with chronic pain syndromes causes by joint dysfunctions, muscles imbalances and degenerative changes. I also know that when my patient’s stick with their treatment recommendations they are usually glad they did both short term and long term.
You might have already forgotten many of the New Year’s resolutions you made just two months ago, but being positive it not as difficult as it may seem. If you need more motivation-Positive people live longer and are healthier! Yes, there is research on that too!