Merely thinking you got a workout can help you lose weight
Scientists have long known the placebo effect can be incredibly powerful: Fake pills can ease pain as much as real medication, and rubbing fake poison ivy on people can cause actual rashes. (There was a terrific story in the New York Times magazine last spring about the placebo effect.)
But now a new study poses an even trippier idea: That merely imagining that you got a workout can give you the same effects as a real-life one. A group of researchers led by Harvard's Ellen Langer recently performing an interesting experiment. As a press release describes it:
The researchers studied 84 female housekeepers from seven hotels. Women in 4 hotels were told that their regular work was enough exercise to meet the requirements for a healthy, active lifestyle, whereas the women in the other three hotels were told nothing. To determine if the placebo effect plays a role in the benefits of exercise, the researchers investigated whether subjects' mind-set (in this case, their perceived levels of exercise) could inhibit or enhance the health benefits of exercise independent of any actual exercise.
Four weeks later, the researchers returned to assess any changes in the women's health. They found that the women in the informed group had lost an average of 2 pounds, lowered their blood pressure by almost 10 percent, and were significantly healthier as measured by body-fat percentage, body mass index, and waist-to-hip ratio. These changes were significantly higher than those reported in the control group and were especially remarkable given the time period of only four weeks.
That's just lovely! Even your weight loss can be affected by your mindset. The full paper is here online if you want to read it. I can just imagine the hilarious ways this study will get twisted out of proportion in the popular press. Someone's probably going to start an "imaginary gym", and charge people $100 a month merely to tell them that they've had workouts.
Posted by Clive Thompson at February 07, 2007 10:19 PM
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The thing I wonder about is whether those who were told their work was healthy began to actually act different. Perhaps the notion that their daily routine was good for them caused them to snap those bed sheets a little harder and push that vacuum with a little more authority, all the while reveling in the workout they were getting. Just a thought.
Posted by: digital_blue at February 8, 2007 2:20 AM
Clive, your headline for this entry is rather misleading! The subjects did not "think" they got a workout when they actually did nothing. They were always working out (through their work of cleaning in the hotel), but did not recognize their activity as such before the intervention.
Posted by: Arrowyn at February 8, 2007 10:55 AM
What's also likely is that once learning they were already exercising, they moderated their diet somewhat so as not to "waste" the benefit of working out. That seems to me the most likely explanation for the weight loss.
Without reading the paper -- because I don't want to get an unintended workout -- I think it would be a good idea to ask participants to keep a food journal for that time period as well.
Posted by: braine at February 8, 2007 11:08 AM
Arrowyn, good point -- it's not about being hypnotized into some sort of false memory ... it's about thinking differently about events that actually do happen to you!
Brain, digital blue -- the paper does in fact address the question of whether the act of being told they were exercising might have changed the subjects' diets or activities. The researchers don't think so -- but they do not appear to have gotten the subjects to keep detailed food logs, or to wear pedometers, for example, to monitor their actual daily movements. So indeed, it's possible the effect came from changes to their diets or to their activities.
As I recall, the researchers surmise that housekeepers, given their crappy pay and long hours (and often their status as the primary caregiver to their kids when they're home), probably wouldn't have had much leisure time or the money to seriously modify their diets or exercise regimen, which is an interesting, if debatable, assumption.
Posted by: Clive at February 8, 2007 11:49 AM
Perhaps I'll tell my husband by merely imagining that he had really awesome sex that he can achieve the same effect as a real-life experience in the sack based on these scientific findings. Extrapolation, baby.
Posted by: See Jayne Blog at February 8, 2007 4:10 PM
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The thing I wonder about is whether those who were told their work was healthy began to actually act different. Perhaps the notion that their daily routine was good for them caused them to snap those bed sheets a little harder and push that vacuum with a little more authority, all the while reveling in the workout they were getting. Just a thought.
Posted by: digital_blue![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.collisiondetection.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 8, 2007 2:20 AM
Clive, your headline for this entry is rather misleading! The subjects did not "think" they got a workout when they actually did nothing. They were always working out (through their work of cleaning in the hotel), but did not recognize their activity as such before the intervention.
Posted by: Arrowyn![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.collisiondetection.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 8, 2007 10:55 AM
What's also likely is that once learning they were already exercising, they moderated their diet somewhat so as not to "waste" the benefit of working out. That seems to me the most likely explanation for the weight loss.
Without reading the paper -- because I don't want to get an unintended workout -- I think it would be a good idea to ask participants to keep a food journal for that time period as well.
Posted by: braine![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.collisiondetection.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 8, 2007 11:08 AM
Arrowyn, good point -- it's not about being hypnotized into some sort of false memory ... it's about thinking differently about events that actually do happen to you!
Brain, digital blue -- the paper does in fact address the question of whether the act of being told they were exercising might have changed the subjects' diets or activities. The researchers don't think so -- but they do not appear to have gotten the subjects to keep detailed food logs, or to wear pedometers, for example, to monitor their actual daily movements. So indeed, it's possible the effect came from changes to their diets or to their activities.
As I recall, the researchers surmise that housekeepers, given their crappy pay and long hours (and often their status as the primary caregiver to their kids when they're home), probably wouldn't have had much leisure time or the money to seriously modify their diets or exercise regimen, which is an interesting, if debatable, assumption.
Posted by: Clive![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.collisiondetection.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 8, 2007 11:49 AM
Perhaps I'll tell my husband by merely imagining that he had really awesome sex that he can achieve the same effect as a real-life experience in the sack based on these scientific findings. Extrapolation, baby.
Posted by: See Jayne Blog![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.collisiondetection.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 8, 2007 4:10 PM