This is pretty grim, but apparently, it works.
Whether you work out daily or are more sporadic when it comes to exercise it can be quite hard to get motivated sometimes.
A recent study suggested that competition was the key to getting up and about but this new finding indicated that there is an extremely bleak way to do it.
A study by the Human Kinetics Journal found that thinking about your mortality can actually encourage you to work hard.
Basically, thinking about the fact that you will one day die, is a serious (albeit grim) way to get motivated.
The study was carried out of students who were playing a basketball game. They scored more points in the game when they were either asked questions about death or given subtle reminders of death.
The test used terror management theory (TMT) which explains how the prospect of death affects people in sport.
“According to TMT, self-esteem buffers against the potential for death anxiety. Because sport allows people to attain self-esteem, reminders of death may improve performance in sport.”
“Your subconscious tries to find ways to defeat death, to make death not a problem, and the solution is self-esteem,” co-lead investigator of the research Uri Lifshin told University of Arizona News.
“When we’re threatened with death, we’re motivated to regain that protective sense of self-esteem,” Uri added.
So the next time you’re feeling discouraged at the gym or feeling lazy about going for a run, think about the fact that you’ll die, yep really, and you’ll be fit in no time. Obviously just don’t let it get you down.
