Do Your Expectations Affect Your Wellbeing?

Can you read better when the big E was at the end from the eye test chart? This was requested inside a recent Newsweek article by Wray Herbert entitled ‘ Just Avoid Aging’. Herbert was commenting on the thought-provoking study made by Harvard psychiatrist Ellen Langer and presented in her own new book “Counterclockwise”.

In one of many studies, Langer and her colleagues learned that once the optometrist’s eye chart was reversed so the large E was at the end and also the tiniest letters were at the very top, test subjects could read smaller sized letters compared to what they normally could read. The standard chart had produced the expectation the lower rows of letters could be harder to see as well as the expectation that sooner or later the letters would become unreadable.

However, once the chart was reversed, the topics still were not able to see the tiniest letters towards the top of the chart. However, using the subtle expectation the letters were becoming readable, the exam subjects could read a lot of smaller sized letters compared to what they did once the chart is at the standard position. Thus Langer learned that the expectation, or even the mindset, from the test subjects, improved their actual vision.

Langer and her colleagues did a variety of experiments and accrued fat loss of evidence which introduced these to the final outcome that the way we watch our health insurance and aging is greatly impacted by our expectations. We mindlessly accept negative clichés that impact our views and our behavior. We too easily accept disease labels that comprise us whenever we say, ‘I have such and the like disease’.

However, whenever we notice the range of subtle messages that surround us and impact our outlook on aging and health, we are able to change our thinking which unconscious expectations. Whenever we identify and alter these unhealthy attitudes and expectations, we’re in a far greater position to re-think our method of a healthier lifestyle and the operation of aging.

Obviously, we might still encounter illnesses or any other health challenges, however, by re-directing our ideas and expectations we are able to anticipate improvement in every aspect of our wellness. The numerous studies by Langer show altering the way we consider our age and health can lead to dramatic positive physical benefits.