Doctors have long observed the immense power of expectation in medical settings. The well-known 'placebo effect' might just as well be called the 'expectation effect'. Are your expectations generally positive? What do you expect for yourself and others? For your future health, wealth, and happiness? Research has found that positive expectations can, in some instances, make us healthier, fitter, and more likely to lose weight. Expectations can even help us feel and look younger, as well as live longer and happier lives. Doctors have long observed the immense power of expectation in medical set ..read more

I've written a lot about low self-esteem all over the internet. I thought it might be useful to collect some of the most popular tips in one place. So first... What is self-esteem? To put it simply, it's a measure of how you think and feel about yourself in relation to other people. If you always imagine other people are 'better' than you, you will be likely to lack confidence, feel anxious, and generally think negatively. This is actually unfair – to you! It means that you can't really give off your best, and may find life more of a struggle than it needs to be. Onto Tip #1... 1. What causes ..read more

Pain is a message that something needs attending to in the body. It is a signal system that’s designed to keep us safe. In an ideal world, we would only ever have pain when it was useful, like if you momentarily touched a hot stove. The pain signals in your body would get you to instantly whip your hand away from the stove and within a short while, the pain would fade away. But in cases of chronic pain, when you’re already receiving all the proper medical treatment for your condition but still experiencing pain, it’s likely that the pain signals in the body are no longer serving a useful purpo ..read more

Throughout history, there have been countless athletes who were born with great talents and physical skill, but who somehow never really lived up to their promise. We can all probably think of a few people we knew who showed great potential early in their lives, but who somehow never quite knuckled down and applied themselves. And you can also probably think of people who started out with relatively average or even below average capabilities, who went on to make the very most of their potential through their dedication, resilience, and absolute commitment to becoming the best they could be. T ..read more

Quality sleep is, of course, essential to good physical and mental health. Waking up in the night means we get less of the essential recuperative slow wave sleep. You might find that you can get to sleep initially, but find yourself waking up in the small hours of the night feeling quite alert and unable to get back to sleep again. Perhaps you worry or get agitated when this happens. Of course, worrying is a stimulant and makes it less likely that you will get back to sleep once you’ve woken up. Interestingly, most people wake up at some point in the night. However, they never really become f ..read more

If you’re reading this, and you’re a human being, the odds are you have a bias in your brain towards short-term thinking, towards focusing on the immediate effects of your choices and actions rather than any potential long-term consequences. This is not some character flaw in you. It’s part of what it is to be human, for all of us. It’s the pattern behind all kinds of problems in life, from overeating, gambling, smoking, impulse purchases, being prone to outbursts of anger and saying things you don’t mean, or even making poor choices when it comes to serious life decisions. You might say that ..read more

Sometimes the strongest food cravings hit when you're at your weakest point emotionally. You may turn to food for comfort — consciously or subconsciously — when facing a difficult problem, feeling stressed or even feeling bored. Emotional eating can sabotage your weight-loss efforts. It often leads to eating too much — especially too much of high-calorie, sweet and fatty foods. The good news is that if you're prone to emotional eating, you can take steps to regain control of your eating habits and get back on track with your weight management goals. Whenever someone feels low, if they’re lone ..read more

Your brain can learn in more ways than just consciously. In fact, much of what you’ve learned in your life has been absorbed in other-than-conscious ways. From your native language, your body language, your taste in food, and your sense of humor to your attitude towards your work, your self-concept, and the way you relate to your significant others, none of these are things that people learn consciously and deliberately. They are, for the most part, a result of your unconscious mind absorbing patterns from other people, from your culture, and from the world around you. And this unconscious le ..read more

There is often some confusion as to the difference between hypnotherapy and hypnosis itself. Hypnosis is nothing more than a tool which cannot do anything at all until somebody puts it to work. Hypnotherapy is a skill, which uses the tool of hypnosis for the administration of many and various forms of psychotherapy. A good analogy is the difference between a saw and woodwork – a carpenter uses the saw to carry out the task of working with wood. But even the very best saw is useless without the craftsman to skillfully wield it. Hypnotherapy can help treat a wide variety of issues. It can be hi ..read more

Do you remember, a few years back? The old WW2 phrase Keep Calm and Carry On took off and you saw those words on mugs, t-shirts, towels... you name it. Fine words indeed. Easier said than done though, especially when carrying on, at least as normal, has become impossible. Sure, we're resilient and adaptive. But sometimes the uncertainty and the lack of actual human contact might get to you during this worldwide emergency. We need to safeguard and build mental as well as physical health. Here are six ways to stay sane during this pandemic. I hope this will help you stay better placed to keep ca ..read more