Think yourself fit: how a healthy mindset can add years to your life

YOU really can think yourself fit, scientists have shown, after discovering that people who believe themselves to be physically active gain major health benefits.

A study of 60,000 people found that individuals who believed they were less active than others were up to 71 per cent more likely to die in the following 21 years, even if they were relatively fit.

In contrast, those who considered themselves to be physically fit were protected against early death, even if that perception was wrong, in what researchers believe is a placebo effect.

“Our findings fall in line with a growing body of research suggesting that our mindsets, in this case, beliefs about how much exercise we are getting relative to others, can play a crucial role in our health,” said Dr Alia Crum, assistant professor of psychology at Stanford University.

“It’s time that we start taking the role of mindsets in health more seriously. In the pursuit of health and longevity, it is important to adopt not only healthy behaviours, but also healthy thoughts.”

The researchers say that people could gain the same impact by feeling good about doing everyday activities, such as taking the stairs, walking, cycling to work or cleaning the house. Dr Crum and her team analysed surveys from more than 60,000 Americans who were asked about their levels of physical activity and monitored with an accelerometer for a week.

The researchers then studied death records from 2011, which was 21 years after the first survey was conducted. Those who believed they did not exercise enough were far more likely to have died in the study period, regardless of how much activity they got.

“Most people know that not exercising enough is bad for your health,” said Octovaia Zahrt, a doctoral student at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. “But most people do not know that thinking you are not exercising enough can also harm your health.”

Miss Zahrt said she had first noticed the phenomenon when arriving to study at Stanford and finding the other students were “incredibly active”.

Although she cycled regularly and visited the gym, she began to feel stressed about her lack of exercise.

It led her to wonder whether the belief could actually alter motivation and have an impact on health. The researchers also believe that it is possible to get a placebo effect from those who think they are physically active.

Dr Crum said: “Placebo effects are very robust in medicine. It is only logical to expect that they would play a role in shaping the benefits of behavioural health as well. Our research suggests that perceiving everyday activities as good exercise is almost as important as doing the activities in the first place. In the pursuit of health and longevity, it is important not only to adopt healthy behaviours but also healthy thought.”

The research was published in the Health Psycholog y journal.