Neuroscience
The next time you're doing the housework, try donning a tracksuit, cranking up the Rocky sound-track and viewing the whole thing as an exercise session – doing so could have a positive effect on your health.
That's according to Alia Crum and Ellen Langer, who assessed the health of 84 female hotel cleaners, all of whom worked between 32 to 40 hours per week, cleaning approximately 15 rooms per day.
The researchers then told half the cleaners, via verbal presentations, handouts and posters, that the cleaning work they perform counts as exercise and means they effectively lead an active lifestyle, easily fulfilling government recommendations for daily exercise. The remaining cleaners acted as controls.
A month later the health of the cleaners was assessed again. Crucially, those who had been reminded how much exercise they engage in at work, showed health improvements in terms of weight, body mass index, body-fat, waist-to-hip ratio and blood pressure. The control cleaners showed no such improvements.
What caused this health boost? Those cleaners reminded that their work counted as exercise didn't change their smoking, drinking or eating habits over the month, nor did they start exercising more in their spare time. However, as intended, the intervention did lead them to perceive that they engaged in more exercise at work.
“These results support our hypothesis that increasing perceived exercise independently of actual exercise results in subsequent physiological improvements”, the researchers said.
In the same way that some medicines work not because of any particular ingredient, but because of patients' belief in their healing power, the researchers concluded their findings show some of the benefits of exercise are also related to beliefs - otherwise known as the placebo effect.
____________________________________
Crum, A.J. & Langer, E.J. (2007). Mind-set matters. Exercise and the placebo effect. Psychological Science, 18, 165-171.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
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Neuroscience
Is the benefit of exercise a placebo effect?
The next time you're doing the housework, try donning a tracksuit, cranking up the Rocky sound-track and viewing the whole thing as an exercise session – doing so could have a positive effect on your health.That's according to Alia Crum and Ellen Langer, who assessed the health of 84 female hotel cleaners, all of whom worked between 32 to 40 hours per week, cleaning approximately 15 rooms per day.
The researchers then told half the cleaners, via verbal presentations, handouts and posters, that the cleaning work they perform counts as exercise and means they effectively lead an active lifestyle, easily fulfilling government recommendations for daily exercise. The remaining cleaners acted as controls.
A month later the health of the cleaners was assessed again. Crucially, those who had been reminded how much exercise they engage in at work, showed health improvements in terms of weight, body mass index, body-fat, waist-to-hip ratio and blood pressure. The control cleaners showed no such improvements.
What caused this health boost? Those cleaners reminded that their work counted as exercise didn't change their smoking, drinking or eating habits over the month, nor did they start exercising more in their spare time. However, as intended, the intervention did lead them to perceive that they engaged in more exercise at work.
“These results support our hypothesis that increasing perceived exercise independently of actual exercise results in subsequent physiological improvements”, the researchers said.
In the same way that some medicines work not because of any particular ingredient, but because of patients' belief in their healing power, the researchers concluded their findings show some of the benefits of exercise are also related to beliefs - otherwise known as the placebo effect.
____________________________________
Crum, A.J. & Langer, E.J. (2007). Mind-set matters. Exercise and the placebo effect. Psychological Science, 18, 165-171.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
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You know what they say about all work and no play? Don' be dull, find a great health club to play in. We also have fitness tips, a fitness glossary and we will help you find the best health clubs in your area at SignatureHealthClubs.com.
--
- Video-game Exercise Bikes - Not Just A Gimmick
Exercise is going techno. People are playing Wii fit sports games in their homes and gyms are full of ever more interactive exercise machines. But is this trend anything more than gimmickry? Yes, according to a new study by Ryan Rhodes at the Behavioural...
- Why Gym Design Is All Wrong
Walk into any gym these days and you're confronted by a bank of exercise machines facing a wall of floor-to-ceiling mirrors. Yet new research suggests this could be the worse possible set-up for sedentary women braving the gym for the first time....
- Can Physical Exercise Really Improve Reading Ability?
Bouncing on a gym ball, spinning round, and other physical exercises can help improve the reading ability of children at risk of dyslexia. That's according to David Reynolds and Roderick Nicolson, whose latest claims have attracted robust criticism...
- The Game Brain
An excellent op-ed piece in today's New York Times about the value of exercise - of the physical variety - in mental gymnastics. A Risser suggestion to supplement the intent of the opinion writers: get out there and walk around, but take a camera...
- Hit The Gym And Then The Library
Great set of stories in Newsweek a few weeks back on exercise. One article in particular, Can Exercise Make You Smarter?, by Mary Carmichael (March 26, 2007) discusses the relationship between exercise and the brain. Charles Hillman, of the University...