Article

"Picturing" better health

As a holistic nutrition advisor I help clients achieve their health goals by working with diet, nutrition, reducing toxins and stressors, and exercise.

I also often recommend clients incorporate visualizing into their health regimen as a powerful tool for healing.

Why?

 

Because what you THINK affects what your body DOES.

We can understand this better by looking at placebos...

 

Placebos

A placebo is a substance that has no active ingredients, or a treatment that has no medical benefit.

Placebos are often used in medical studies for the group that gets "no treatment". People in the studies do not know if they are getting the real treatment or the placebo.

Even though there should be no affect from placebos, approximately 35 percent of the time people taking the placebo get the same benefits as if taking the substance or treatment – because they believe they are getting the real thing!

Placebos work because the mind believes they are real and the body acts as if they are real.


Check this out...
(None of the following should happen – because placebos have no active ingredients)

 

Blue placebo pills are better sedatives than pink placebo pills.
Demonstration to medical students of placebo responses and non-drug factors.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(72)90996-8/abstract


Taking placebos four times a day works better than taking them 2 times a day
Placebo effect in the treatment of duodenal ulcer.
de Craen AJ, Moerman DE, Heisterkamp SH, Tytgat GN, Tijssen JG, Kleijnen J.
Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10594490


Brand-name-looking placebo "aspirin" works better than generic placebo "aspirin" (neither should work!)
Analgesic effects of branding in treatment of headaches.
A Branthwaite and P Cooper  Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1981 May 16; 282(6276): 1576–1578.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1505530/


Placebos cause the brain to release dopamine – just like the dopamine-boosting medication
Dopamine release in human ventral striatum and expectation of reward.
de la Fuente-Fernández R, Phillips AG, Zamburlini M, Sossi V, Calne DB, Ruth TJ, Stoessl AJ.  Pacific Parkinson's Research Centre, Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Center, University of British Columbia
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12429397

Bandages work better with kids when there is a picture of Snoopy the cartoon character on it.
Meaning, Medicine, and the Placebo Effect. Moerman, Daniel E. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Print.


Visualizing directs the body

Placebos work because they create a STATE OF MIND that allows or directs the body to produce what is needed for health and healing.

Visualizing works much the same way.

When we visualize something we want, the brain and body are activated to produce it.

 

Check this out...

Muscle strength is increased by just visualizing exercising the muscles
From mental power to muscle power – gaining strength by using the mind.
Ranganathan VK, Siemionow V, Liu JZ, Sahgal V, Yue GH.
Department of Biomedical Engineering/ND20, The Lerner Research Institute, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14998709

Visualization can help stroke victims regain movement
Effects of mental practice on affected limb use and function in chronic stroke.
Page SJ, Levine P, Leonard AC.  Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15759218

Visualizing improves sports performance
The Effects of Imagery Training on Swimming Performance: An Applied Investigation

Phillip Post, Sean Muncie & Duncan Simpson  Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, Volume 24, Issue 3, 2012
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10413200.2011.643442
 

Visualization promotes reduced risk of recurrence of breast cancer
Imagery intervention for recovering breast cancer patients: clinical trial of safety and efficacy.
Freeman L, Cohen L, Stewart M, White R, Link J, Palmer JL, Welton D.  Mind Matters Research, Anchorage, AK 99507, USA.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18544286

Visualization can help prolong survival for people with cancer
How psychological therapy may prolong survival in cancer patients: new evidence and a simple theory.

Alastair J Cunningham, O.C., Ph.D., C.Psych. Kimberly Watson, M.A.
http://www.healingjourney.ca/interviewtheo.pdf


Inspiration and much of the research for this article came from the comprehensive and informative book: How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body by David R. Hamilton, Ph.D.

 

Using visualizations

 

Some things visualization can help with:

1. •pain reduction
    
   

2. •boosting immunity
    
   

3. •healing
    
   

4. •building strength and endurance
    
   

5. •improving physical performance
   

 

Tips for visualizing effectively
 

1. •Be relaxed and focused
    
   

2. •Be specific when visualizing - visualizing immune cells attacking bacteria is better than visualizing "being healthy"
    
   

3. •Visualizations can be anatomically correct, or just representations  e.g. bone cells building bone, or construction workers building houses that represent bone – both work
    
   

4. •Visualize several times a day, for several minutes
    
   

5. •Be patient
   

–> More articles and recipes

Home  |  Holistic Nutrition  |  Talks and workshops  |  Contact  |  Articles and recipes