We treat aging, fatigue, and even disease as things that just happen to us. Ellen Langer, the first woman tenured in Harvard’s psychology department, has spent five decades showing that our way of thinking has a massive say in all of it.
Michael sits down with Langer, author of The Mindful Body, to talk about how much of your health is actually under your mind’s control. They cover:
The experiment that turned back old men’s bodies
Maids who lost weight by seeing their work as exercise
Why the stories we tell ourselves about bad events are “the whole ballgame”
The truth about mindfulness—what it really is and a meditation-free way to find it
A scientific case against following the rules
How labeling a disease changes how it impacts us
How to think if you get a health scare
A better way to make hard decisions
And more …
Listen to the episode
Watch the Episode
Go deeper
The Brain Glitch That Makes Modern Life Feel Miserable
Ellen’s book, The Mindful Body
Ellen’s study on maids who viewed work as exercise: Mindset Matters: Exercise and the Placebo Effect
Ellen’s Illusion of Control Study
Two Percent episode with Maria Konnikova, PhD psychologist and professional poker player, who explained how the illusion of control impacts gambling—and many other decisions in life.
Have fun, don’t die, think better.
-Michael