Researchers find out how much a person's thoughts shape his health

Practicing doctors know that the phase of recovery after illnesses is individual for each person. It depends on these factors: age, genetics, lifestyle, and level of social support. The importance of the patient's mood and thoughts is also noted.

Experts at the Langer Lab decided to test this observation experimentally, reports Scientific American. Specifically, the goal of their work was to find out how expectations of recovery time affect recovery, according to Planet Today. It was found that the features of the perception of the passage of time affect the speed of healing of patients' wounds. Mind and body are one whole, and mind can control well-being and health in general.

The first attempt was made in 1979. A group of elderly men were placed in a shelter that looked the same as it did 20 years ago. They were told to spend their time in the same way as in their youth. It is unbelievable, but the volunteers' hearing, vision, memory, and strength improved without any medical intervention. And they looked noticeably younger.

Now it has been found experimentally that waiting for fatigue makes people feel more tired, and the fear of cold often leads to real illness.

There are also examples of the positive impact of thoughts on health. If a person expected that the exercises would bring him some benefit, would help him lose weight, then he really lost weight.

The researchers checked as well the healing time of the wounds when the patients thought that more or less time had passed. In fact, the test subjects were given the same amount of time to heal their wounds. But conditions were created for them when the perception of its course changed a little. The wounds of the test subjects who thought that more time had passed healed faster than the wounds of those who thought that less time had passed.

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