Psychology Articles

You’re boiling with rage. Even thinking about that witch of a co-worker is upsetting—and there she is, flaunting herself like a diva on American Idol. She’s been your nemesis from the moment she joined the staff, despite your best efforts to be cordial. Arrogant, unpleasant, underhanded—she’s lured away clients, and you know she’s the source of r...

Have you ever found yourself in a state of complete absorption in a complex and challenging activity that stretches your skills? This wonderful state is called flow, and is described in the best-selling book Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, PhD (Basic Books 1997). Csikszentmihalyi believes that being in flow generates the peak experiences in our lives. The more flow we experience, he suggests, the happier we are.

If you have overweight clients who love their social media, you may want to point them in the direction of Twitter. A new study has found that Twitter use helped subjects achieve a healthy weight.newsletter_teaser: If you have overweight clients who love their social media, you may want to point them in the direction of Twitter. A new study has found that Twitter use can help people achieve a healthy weight. How is that possible?

You know your next client, Doug, really well. He’s been working with you for 2 years, he’s committed to his fitness program, and while his body is already well-conditioned, he is determined to keep improving. His session will focus mainly on intense weightlifting, and Doug is used to “psyching himself up” before each set—he finds it helps—but you’ve both observed that it’s getting harder for him to make real gains. How can you help?

Millions of Americans ring in the New Year with lofty intentions to lose weight and exercise more, so why is it that by March, most New Year’s resolutions have fizzled like stale champagne? Typically it’s because people start out with unrealistic goals, misjudging the difficulty of breaking deeply ingrained habits. Impractical goals lead to disappointments that undermine the willpower people need to keep their New Year’s resolutions.newsletter_teaser: Millions of Americans ring in the New Year with lofty intentions to lose weight and exercise more, so why is it that by March, most New Year’s resolutions have fizzled like stale champagne? Typically it’s because people start out with unrealistic goals, misjudging the difficulty of breaking deeply ingrained habits.

Over the past few decades, portion sizes of everything from pizza to bagels have swelled by an average of two to five times in America (Young 2006). newsletter_teaser: Over the past few decades, portion sizes of everything from pizza to bagels have swelled by an average of two to five times in America (Young 2006).

Having a sense of purpose in life—a tendency to derive meaning from life’s experiences and have a sense of direction or intention—may not only help you achieve goals but also contribute to keeping your brain healthy. Researchers from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago studied data from 246 participants in the Rush Memory and Aging Project and found that higher levels of purpose in life reduced the effect of Alzheimer’s disease on cognitive decline.

What can video games teach us about training clients? Video games are designed to keep users intensely focused, highly motivated, creatively engaged and working at high limits of their abilities—immersed in the activity to the point where it is almost impossible to stop playing. Game play engages users through motivating experiences that trigger the release of neurochemicals in the brain, making the experience so pleasurable that it becomes addictive.newsletter_teaser: Both fitness professionals and game designers strive to keep people intensely focused, highly motivated, creatively engaged and working at high limits of their abilities! What can video games teach us about training clients?

Pranayama Breathing Pranayama (abdominal or diaphragmatic) breathing has been shown to improve immune function, hypertension, asthma, autonomic nervous system imbalances and psychological or stress-related disorders (Jerath et al. 2006).

Plank Hold Daily Challenge The goal. Hold a plank position for as long as possible. The rules. Maintain technique according to these guidelines: knees off the ground elbows on the mat directly under shoulders core braced and engaged—imaginary line can be drawn from ankles to shoulders The feedback system. Keep score with measurable data, providing scalable achievements so there is room for improvement. Total time (seconds) of the plank hold: newsletter_teaser: Check out this great article from the IDEA Online Library, and find out what video games teach us about motivating clients.