Mental and Physical Jogging

Mental and Physical Jogging

Mental and Physical Jogging: If there’s one sure thing in life, practising these two activities on a daily basis will guarantee a stronger, leaner physical body and a motivated, positive mind-set.

Just keep it simple. Set aside time each day, ideally 30 – 40 minutes which you can dedicate to physical movement and mental agility.

Mental jogging is a term some may not be familiar with. It links the word ‘jogging’ which is a type of running done for good physical health, and the word ‘mental’ which is related to the functioning of the mind.  We know that after three days of not doing any exercise, you start to lose muscle tissue. It is the same in terms of thinking. So for instance, if you are exposed to TV ads for more than three hours per week and the majority of those ads sing the praises of overeating, those messages prompt us to take action. It’s not by chance that half the population is overweight. To override what we are exposed to in the media, we must engage in motivational exercises. Like physical fitness, after not doing these exercises for three days, a person’s motivation starts to drop.

MOTIVATIONAL EXERCISES – These involve repeating positive thoughts or messages based on the goal to be reached. Like TV ads, they sell on BENEFITS, that you will be happy if you use such and such a product.

1. ACCOUNTABILITY – Based on our research, the main motivational exercise that has a very high success rate is regular follow up, when both losing and maintaining weight. This works because with regular follow up, a person never loses sight of his goal and the related benefits.
2. READING – Mental jogging through reading is very effective as shown by Dr Larocque’s book “Be Thin through Motivation”. Based on actual fact and the mirror effect, this book allows readers to analyse their behaviours and pinpoint the reasons for them. Due to the success of this approach, proven by the results of a clinical study, other motivational books were penned. They presented further motivational exercises to improve one’s mental image, self-esteem, self-confidence and self-love, and gain better control over emotions. The trilogy of books are still at the heart of the Motivation Programme. These, along with other motivational articles, blogs or books should be used every day, even just a page or two, as a constant reminder of the end goal and the benefits of reaching it.
3. LISTENING – Another super effective method of mental jogging is listening. Books allow us to analyse our behaviours and see where our blocks are, whereas audio programmes programme the brain by creating automatic behaviours. They lead to action, everything becomes easier and we no longer have to fight with our willpower. Another clinical study on two groups of patients who followed the same diet for nine weeks concluded that much more weight was lost when the person did motivational exercises and considerably less weight was lost when the person stopped mental jogging. Why not combine listening with physical activity. There are some inspirational motivational speakers on you tube, really uplifting while keeping up a fast power walk, physical and mental jogging done in one go!

If you have any questions or would like to know more about the concepts mentioned in this article then please visit our clinic locator page and speak to one of our consultants.