Episode 6 - The Clock is Ticking

Fitness & Function

Episode 6 - The Clock is Ticking

Human psychology is a fascinating thing. The mind is the driver for all of our behaviour - it is our software driving our hardware. The mind gives us our sense of self, and allows us to utilise our intelligence. It projects our personality, and hides our self-perceived flaws. Our mind is sensitive to all manner of stimuli - physical, emotional, and environmental - and always refers to its memory bank stored within the many billions of neurons within the brain when executing behaviours, thoughts and feelings. It both helps and hinders us. It can be a driver of accomplishment, of ambition, or curiosity, but it can also sabotage us, it can be a prison that restricts us, that stunts us, that kills us.

When I am dealing with a new client, with someone who is new to exercise, I can usually tell within the first minute of an assessment whether or not that person is fully committed to the idea of exercise. Not because I have any special paranormal gift, not because I am especially gifted in reading body language. It’s because of one simple question - for most people it’s probably the hardest of all questions to answer, but the manner of their answer determines a lot: How much time are you prepared to give to exercise?

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Further reading:

Beresford, T.P. Psychological adaptive mechanisms: Ego defense recognition in practice and research. Oxford University Press USA. 2012. pp13-26.

Prochaska, J.O. The transtheoretical model of health behaviour change. American Journal of Health Promotion. 1997; 12 (1): 38-48. https://doi.org/10.4278/0890-1171-12.1.38

Weber, M.F., et al. Cancer incidence and cancer death in relation to tobacco smoking in a population-based Australian cohort study. International Journal of Cancer. 2021 Sept 1; 149 (5): 1076-1088. DOI: 10.1002/ijc.33685