In the 1970s, when psychic Uri Geller bent spoons, he claimed that he did it with his mind. But debunker James "The Amazing" Randi revealed that it was really a slick parlor trick — not super brain power.
So while neither Geller (or you) can actually bend metal by just thinking about it, there is a kind of super brain power that can build real muscle strength.
That's the amazing discovery made at the Ohio Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute.
Researchers recruited 29 adults to wear casts that immobilized their hand and wrist. Fourteen of the cast-wearing volunteers were told to IMAGINE they were exercising their arm and hand by pushing against something as hard as they could.
They did 13 reps of the brain exercise five days a week for a month. The remaining cast-wearing participants didn't do any visualization.
At the end of the month, the visualizers had lost about 24 percent of their muscle strength. The folks who wore the cast without doing brain exercises lost almost double that — 45 percent!
The nervous system, it turns out, can protect muscle strength during prolonged immobilization, whether from a cast or a long hospital stay.
That's important enough a discovery, but we suggest you apply it to everyday life. Daily, visualize yourself exercising (walking, jogging, or doing resistance exercises). Imagine the effort that goes into increasing endurance.
It's a good way to boost your motivation, so exercise becomes a regular part of your life. And who knows, you just might think yourself some extra muscle power along the way!
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