Physical Potential of Suggestions

[Fixx]

Hi all,

Well, basically I was just interested to hear thoughts and experiences regarding physical effects of hypnotic suggestions. I'm sure we've all heard of hypnosis altering body temperature and even the wonder stories of boosting people's immune systems and halting or regressing tumor growth and whatever, though I haven't read any studies about this so I guess I don't know how credible some of this stuff is.

I was just asking because I'm working out a lot and was thinking of supplementing the regimen I'm on with suggestions to exercise more, get bigger, stronger etc. Obviously some of these would just be behavioural stuff, not physical, but I was thinking of trying out direct physical suggestions to see if they enhanced the physical development any. It would be difficult to kind of guage whether the growth is due to the exercise or to hypnosis though, but I guess it couldn't hurt?

Anyways, just interesting in reading anecdotes, research or whatever about the physical effects of hypnosis to see how viable the type of suggestions I'm going to try out might be.

[Blink]

...though I haven't read any studies about this so I guess I don't know how credible some of this stuff is.

I was just asking because I'm working out a lot and was thinking of supplementing the regimen I'm on with suggestions to exercise more, get bigger, stronger etc. Obviously some of these would just be behavioural stuff, not physical, but I was thinking of trying out direct physical suggestions to see if they enhanced the physical development any. It would be difficult to kind of guage whether the growth is due to the exercise or to hypnosis though, but I guess it couldn't hurt?

I wish I had the citation, but there's research that has shown that "visualization" of exercise was up to 30% as effective in terms of strength gains as actual exercise. I don't think the study addressed increasing the "dose" of their visualization versus the "dose" of actual exercise to make up the difference. In any case, this does give you something do do on days between workouts (assuming that you have non-training days).

Thirty percent might not sound like much, but consider that you can get your third of a workout while lying in bed or riding the bus, etc., and it starts to look better.

Somebody here is bound to have the citation on this one. Somebody?

-- Blink

[MN_FriendlyGuy]

Fixx -

You asked about physical effects of hypnotic suggestions as they relate to bodybuilding results. How credible are the claims? It's an excellent question! I've done some sleuthing along this line since hypnosis to 'heighten' the enjoyment of bodybuilding is what I love doing.

Firstly - I'm unaware of any study that quantifies growth due to exercise versus growth from hypnosis. I've seen claims that such studies have been done. But the only place I've ever see those claims is in advertisements - a dubious source (in my opinion).

Secondly - Hypnosis has been proven (scientifically) to have two specific benefits.

1. Relaxation (No proofs are attached for this benefit. If you disagree that relaxation is a benefit of hypnosis, let me know.)
2. Perception Change -

Link from Villanova University: http://www18.homepage.villanova.edu/diego.fernandezduque/Teaching/PhysiologicalPsychology/Articles/PosterSampleHypnotism.pdf

Relaxation:
You know that 'pump' you get at the gym? It's temporary. The muscle growth we want actually comes when our bodies repair microtears in muscle fibers. The healing of those microtears happens when we rest. It's this factor that causes me to say the relaxation of hypnosis is excellent for bodybuilders.

Perception Change:
Hypnosis is a psychological state with distinct neural correlates. What you see, hear, feel and believe are based on physiology and on the framework your mind has constructed as an outcome from your life experiences. It includes a component that neuroscientists call 'top-down' processing. When hypnosis adjusts top-level brain functions, it results in lower brain functions being adjusted too. (Source of info: Texas A&M University http://philosophy.tamucc.edu/article.pl?sid=05/11/23/1512210)

- If you feel proud of yourself from an especially good workout, hypnosis can 'heighten' that feeling of pride - making it more intense. (positive reinforcement)
- If you have a fear of going heavy, hypnosis can suggest a new definition for what is 'heavy'.
- If you simply want to look in the mirror and perceive your body as being more muscular (no genuine change), that's possible too.

:evil: Please note that the topic of "exercise motivation hypnosis" has been left out of this response. I'm glad to hear from someone (you) who isn't looking for a quick fix to a self-motivation challenge.

The best to you!

[Fixx]

Firstly, many thanks for the responses guys, what you've both said has been pretty interesting.

Blink,

Actually I did think (up to) 30% was pretty substantial - as you pointed out it's almost a third and would potentially be useful on rest days. To be honest, upwards of 10% would be a very significant benefit in my view. I've read about enhancing workouts with visualization and mental exercises, but, well, basically I guess I always regarded it as an ancillary, semi-substantiated kind of thing, and hadn't realized it could be so effective. As you said it would be helpful to see how they evaluated the benefits and came to a 30% figure. Having said that I'm set on including more visualization and hypnosis anyway, I mean I don't think it could be detrimental or anything to try it out. Besides, even after the “honeymoon period” I still really feel like I should be doing something on rest days.

MN_FriendlyGuy,

I've been using hypnosis for relaxation (and general mental improvement) quite a lot and now that you’ve mentioned it I can see how a relaxed state might aid muscle repair. Having said that I've never really known a great deal about the process - basically I've just been fuelling the muscle repair and building with the obligatory protein-rich foods and amino acids, but beyond high-school biology stuff and the odd body-building book/article I'm pretty ignorant on this. The psychological aspects are definitely something I will include and amplifying any existing positive reinforcement sounds like a good idea.

By the way the second link you provided was interesting, especially some of this stuff:

“The surprise is the amount of traffic the other way, from top to bottom, called feedback. There are 10 times as many nerve fibers carrying information down as there are carrying it up....

....The top-down structure explains a lot. If the construction of reality has so much top-down processing, that would make sense of the powers of placebos (a sugar pill will make you feel better), nocebos (a witch doctor will make you ill), talk therapy and meditation. If the top is convinced, the bottom level of data will be overruled.”

The implication seems to be that the whole feedback thing is likely balanced in favour of top-down, which I hadn't realized. Heh, testing out the “Stroop effect” stuff was also pretty cool. Moreover the perception changes seem to have been backed by hard science, which is good, as I sometimes think it’s difficult to know whether a subject is merely consciously complying with a hypnotist or if the subject really is in an altered state and the suggestions have genuinely penetrated.

Uh anyway, slight digression, but again, thanks both for the information. =)

[puckinwebguy]

I wish I had the citation, but there's research that has shown that "visualization" of exercise was up to 30% as effective in terms of strength gains as actual exercise.

Blink,
I don't know if this is the study you were thinking of, but this is the one I remember. It involved basketball players visualizing free throws. Those that visualized free throws improved by 23%, while those that practiced improved by 24%.

http://www.llewellynencyclopedia.com/article/244

[Blink]

Blink,
I don't know if this is the study you were thinking of, but this is the one I remember. It involved basketball players visualizing free throws. Those that visualized free throws improved by 23%, while those that practiced improved by 24%.

http://www.llewellynencyclopedia.com/article/244

That's not the citation I was thinking about, but it's a good one.

Given the nature of the discussion that's going now, this will be relevant to anyone serious about using free weights who is concerned about proper form and technique during lifting. After getting guidance on proper form and practicing a few times under load, it's possible (this article leads us to believe) to improve while not under load.

Any weight trainers want to comment on how cool it would be to know you had the skills right before you had weight on the bar?

After MN_FriendlyGuy's response, I'll clarify that the article I'm (mis)remembering mentioned visualization, not hypnosis (like the article cited by puckinwebguy), and I'm about 90% sure it was measuring strength gains, though they could have been doing some other biometrics (tape measure 'round the bicep or something). Even if this isn't a figment of my imagination and someone's able to find the citation, I don't know how much confirmation work has been done. If it's just one journal article, it doesn't give you science, it' gives you hope.

In any case, whether you can directly tell the muscles to grow or not, there are benefits, as previously noted on this thread, to augmenting a fitness routine with hypnotic practice.

-- Blink