Did you know thinking of yourself as fit actually makes you fitter? That's according to a 2015 study conducted at Texas Woman’s University. Researchers looked at a group of healthy women aged 18-30 and found that those who perceived themselves as strong and fit scored significantly higher on fitness tests than women who had lower self-esteem. The women were otherwise similar in BMI and frequency of exercise, which supports that there is in fact a psychological component to fitness.
“If you perceive yourself to have high levels of endurance or muscular strength, you may partake in those activities more,” notes Wayne A Brewer, PhD, PT, CSCS, the study’s co-author. “These perceptions themselves work to improve compliance in the participation …show more content…
It actually benefits you the most.
Letting someone else go first in line, donating to charity, paying someone a compliment or really listening to what they have to say -- all these gestures have big payoffs in our physical and psychological well being. Experts call these "micro moments" of human connection, and studies show they reduce anxiety, boost your immune system, reduce stress, improve our sense of wellbeing, and complete tasks with better clarity and accuracy.
“Behaving prosocially, whether donating money or doing something nice for someone in need, increases positive emotions and decreases negative emotions. This effect is immediate and long lasting,” says Leaf Van Boven, PhD, a professor of psychology at University of Colorado Boulder who studies the emotional benefits of prosocial behavior.
Van Boven goes on to say that helping other people builds social bonds and connection, which can stave off depression and increase your sense of well being. Best of all? Kindness is contagious, he says. “When we behave kindly toward others, we create a very strong norm or expectation that others will respond, ahem, in kind.” In other words, when we are kind to someone else, it is very difficult for them not to be kind in return. Of course, unkindness works in the same way. So our behavior can trigger a virtuous cycle of kindness, or a vicious cycle of
“If you perceive yourself to have high levels of endurance or muscular strength, you may partake in those activities more,” notes Wayne A Brewer, PhD, PT, CSCS, the study’s co-author. “These perceptions themselves work to improve compliance in the participation …show more content…
It actually benefits you the most.
Letting someone else go first in line, donating to charity, paying someone a compliment or really listening to what they have to say -- all these gestures have big payoffs in our physical and psychological well being. Experts call these "micro moments" of human connection, and studies show they reduce anxiety, boost your immune system, reduce stress, improve our sense of wellbeing, and complete tasks with better clarity and accuracy.
“Behaving prosocially, whether donating money or doing something nice for someone in need, increases positive emotions and decreases negative emotions. This effect is immediate and long lasting,” says Leaf Van Boven, PhD, a professor of psychology at University of Colorado Boulder who studies the emotional benefits of prosocial behavior.
Van Boven goes on to say that helping other people builds social bonds and connection, which can stave off depression and increase your sense of well being. Best of all? Kindness is contagious, he says. “When we behave kindly toward others, we create a very strong norm or expectation that others will respond, ahem, in kind.” In other words, when we are kind to someone else, it is very difficult for them not to be kind in return. Of course, unkindness works in the same way. So our behavior can trigger a virtuous cycle of kindness, or a vicious cycle of