This blog contains affiliate link(s). An affiliate link means I may earn advertising/referral fees if you purchase through my link, without any extra cost to you. It helps to keep this blog afloat. I appreciate your support.
In today’s podcast notes we will look at Andrew Huberman’s Podcast. In this episode, Andrew interviews Dr. Alia Crum, who is a world expert on mindset and beliefs. In a quick summary, this podcast explains how our mindset controls our response to stress, food, health, and many other domains in our lives.
Mindsets are core beliefs and assumptions that we make about a domain. According to Dr. Alia Crum, there are 4 things that influence and shape our mindset. First is our upbringing, how our parents talked about things; Second is culture, media, movies, social media, etc; Third is influential others such as doctors, close friends, and families, peers; Fourth is your conscious choice. We have the power to make or change our mindset.
We have many different mindsets that shape our bodies responds
Although fixed and growth mindsets are widely popular, we have many other mindsets. We have mindsets about health, exercise, food, etc. For example, your mindset towards healthy food they are disgusting and tasteless. On the other hand, someone might have a mindset where they see healthy food as indulgent and delicious.
In general, we have a sort of mindset that sees stress as debilitating and healthy food as disgusting and depriving. Mindsets shape how our body responds to different types of domains, such as food, exercise, stress, etc.
What we think about our food is as important as what we eat
Dr. Alia Crum shares a very interesting study that shows how our mindset can shape our beliefs. This study reveals how our beliefs about what we are eating can change our body’s response to food.
In the study, the same people consume the same milkshake on two different time points separated by a week. The first time they tried the milkshake, they were told that it is high in fat and high in calories. The second time they were told that it was low calories, low sugar, and low fat. However, in both cases, it was the same milkshake.
On the first try, they observed the Ghrelin (hunger) Hormone levels drop a lot more than on the second try. They thought they consumed more food. In reality, both milkshakes were the same.
This study was a good example to show that the way we think about food can change taste and satisfaction. So, when consuming healthy food, it is beneficial to have a mindset that you are eating enough and getting enough, and enjoying the food. It is extremely important what you think about your diet.
We have to be more mindful about how we motivate ourselves about exercise
We don’t need to know or be told that we have to do a certain amount of exercise to get healthy. By now, we are all aware that we need to be active. Trying to convince ourselves on how much exercise we need to do each week can be counterproductive. We also need to be more mindful of what we are already getting.
She shares another study, where they observed hotel workers, whose work involves constant movement and physical activity. But when they’ve asked if they do any exercise, all the workers replied “No” as they have no time.
So they started observing the hotel workers for a few weeks. But before they started the study, the workers were told that through their work, they actually get enough exercise that is recommended. Their weight and body physiology were also recorded. After a few weeks, the hotel workers lost weight, their blood pressure dropped, and they also started feeling better about themselves. So the only thing that was changed was their mindset towards exercise. They were made aware of how much exercise they get through their work. So they started seeing work as exercise instead of a daunting task.
You need to keep in mind that you won’t get away with a few minutes of exercise each day, but you also don’t need to psychologically pressure yourself about not getting enough exercise. Both mindset and what you do matters.
Cultivating stress can literally help you learn and grow
When we face stress, we usually do one of two things. We either freak out and run or we simply checkout and get into a denial state and pretend as it doesn’t exist. But to be able to deal with stress, we need to understand it. We need to ask ourselves “How do I utilize the stress? What can I do to grow and get better?” We need to change our mindset about stress.
Our body is designed to enhance our abilities during stress. It narrows our focus, increases our attention, speeds up the rate we process information. It can release catabolic hormones that recruit and activate anabolic hormones, which help build our muscles and neurons, therefore to help us to grow and learn.
Our mindset about stress shapes our responses. Research showed that when you see stress as a challenge instead of a threat, your brain and body respond adaptively.
Most adaptive way to think about stress
We should never try to cope with or get rid of stress. But we should try to leverage it and try to understand why it occurs and how could we utilize and work with it?
The first thing we need to realize is that we only stress about things that we care about and matter to us. If we don’t care about something, it won’t bother us and we won’t get stressed.
So this is the 3 step approach to utilize and leverage stress without ignoring it or running away from it.
1. Acknowledge it. Be mindful about it, don’t ignore it or try to run away from it.
2. Welcome it. Because in that stress there is something you care about.
3. Utilize it. Find the ways to achieve the things you care about.
Don’t ever try to check out from stress. By checking out from it, you check out from things you care about.
Final Say
We are all capable of changing our mindset so it can serve us well. We need to be more aware of what our mindset is about a certain situation, then we need to recognize that our current mindset does not work well, then we start making conscious decisions to improve our mindsets to better.