Day 4 How a positive mind really can creat a healthier body.

"newscientist"文章

How a positive mind really can creat a healthier body.

A positive mindset isn't just mental-it can trigger physical changes making you fitter, slimmer, more energetic and less stressed.It will even help you live longer.

ByDavid Robson

Mindset n.心态

Trigger v.引起

Slim a.苗条的slimmer 更瘦的/减肥者

“OUR minds aren’t passive observers simply observing reality as it is; our minds actually change reality. The reality we experience tomorrow is partly the product of the mindsets we hold today.” That’s whatAlia Crum told global movers and shakersat this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Movers and shakers有权势的人

World Economic Forum in Davos达沃斯世界经济论坛

Switzerland 瑞士

It may sound like New Age nonsense, but Crum, who heads theMind & Body lab at Stanford University in California, can back up her claims with hard evidence showing the mysterious influence the mind has over our health and well-being.

Stanford University斯坦福大学

Back up支持

Mind n.意识

Crum’s pioneering research was inspired by her own experiences as a child gymnast and college ice hockey player.

pioneering a.开创性的

gymnast n.体操运动员

ice hockey 冰球

“You can be the same physical being from one day to the next,” she says, “but your mindset can have a dramatic effect on performance and physiological capabilities.” She often wondered why.

Then, as a psychology student, she read about the placebo effect and had a eureka moment: ifour expectations can influence the effectiveness of a drug, perhaps something similar can happen in other situations, too.

psychology 心理学

placebo effect 安慰剂效应:吃了假药，身体好了，以为是药起了作用

Pursuing that idea, Crum and others have discovered that your mindset affects everything from your weight and fitness to the physical toll of insomnia and stress – even how well you age.

fitness n.健康

insomnia n. 失眠/ɪn'sɒmnɪə/

The upshot is that two people could have identical genes and lifestyles but one can end up healthier than the other, thanks solely to their different thoughts.

upshot n.结果

identical a.同一的

solely ad.唯一的

Placebos are inert pills used in most clinical drug trials. The participants are divided randomly into two groups: half take the drug being tested, the rest, for comparison, take an identical-looking sugar pill.

inert a.惰性的

inert pill 惰性药剂