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caption38 goodhealth. DAYDREAMING ISN’T A WASTE OF TIME. IN FACT, IT COULD HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON YOUR WHOLE LIFE, SAYS HELEN FOSTER Believer... Daydream PHOTOGRAPHY CORBIS / GETTY IMAGES / MARC MONTEZIN/ MARIE CLAIRE IDEES/ PICTURE MEDIA gm1212imap38.pdf Page 38 19/10/2012, 4:28:08 PM

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caption39 When researchers at the University of Malaya asked long jumpers to visualise their jump before they actually made it, they found they were more likely to jump with perfect form than those who didn’t use the brain technique before moving. Fitness expert and clinical hypnotherapist Edwina Griffin isn't surprised. “Doing visualisations with perfect form sets up the neural pathways to enable an individual to actually execute that movement with perfect form,” she says. R ecent studies have found that daydreaming and imagining is the default setting of our brain – in other words if you’re not thinking of anything else, your mind will start to wander. Harness that wandering mind, and you have a proven way to make yourself happier, healthier, and fitter. Here are 10 ways that you can use your imagination to improve your life. Did you know that psychologists have identified a new condition called ‘nomophobia’ which is fear of being away from your mobile phone? Our dependence on smartphones is now absolute (Australia has the second highest ownership in the world) but the constant stimulation they provide is not helping our mental state. “Our brains have forgotten how to be bored – but this is important to help them reset,” says Sydney-based therapist Marie Rowland. Next time you have nothing to occupy you (say you’re waiting in a restaurant for a friend), instead of picking up your phone to pass the time, just sit and daydream. “It might be tricky at first as we often associate daydreaming with time-wasting but remember it’s only when our mind is wandering that it’s free to make real discoveries,” says Rowland. TO BREAK YOUR MOBILE PHONE HABIT 1 TO IDENTIFY YOUR CAREER STRENGTHS Get a pen. Now create an imaginary co-worker and write down how they would react in situations like making a work mistake, handling stress or getting a promotion. If you’re like the people who took part in a study at the University of Nebraska-Linc

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caption40 TO EAT MORE HEALTHILY In studies from the Nestlé Research Center in Switzerland, people who ate salad while looking at pictures of high-carb goods like pizza enjoyed the taste of the salad more (as the thoughts of pizza created a greater taste stimulus in the brain). Study author Dr Johannes le Coutre says that simply imagining that pizza while you eat your greens would also have the same effect. You can also use imagination to trick appetite. When people in trials at Purdue University in the US were told a drink would solidify in their stomach after drinking, the liquid actually did stay in their system longer than normal and they ate less at their next meal. Trick your appetite by imagining you’ve consumed the kilojoules in the liquid part of a meal – like a glass of wine or coffee – in solid form. Daydreaming of winning THE LOTTERY might mean you need to take better control of your finances. TO HELP FIGHT PAIN Recent studies at Stanford University in California found that pain sufferers could reduce the discomfort they felt by 64 per cent simply by imagining the pain as snowflakes falling on the body and slowly melting away. “Pain, particularly chronic pain, can make people feel very much out of control but visualisation helps you enhance your perception of control,” says psychologist Dr Joann Lukins. She suggests going somewhere quiet, making the image as clear and vivid as possible and visualising yourself being ‘in control’ of your pain as you ask it to disperse. It might also help to look at something blue. According to scientists at Canada’s University of British Columbia, staring at the colour blue helps your brain with tasks that require imagination. TO IDENTIFY WHAT YOU MIGHT NEED MORE OF IN LIFE For this, you need to examine your daydreams. “They are a valuable self-to-self channel of communication,” says Professor Eric Klinger, who studies daydreaming at the US’s University of Minnesota

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captionFor this you need imagination and a book with characters you relate to. Really engross yourself in their lives and the more you read, the greater a sense of social connection and belonging you develop, no matter what’s going on in your real life, say psychologists at the University at Buffalo in the US. In their trial, people felt happier and more satisfied with their life after reading a book they related to. Be a little careful, though. Further studies have shown the more we relate to a book’s character the more we’re likely to take on their characteristics over the next few days. It might therefore be worth warning your husband if you’re reading the bestselling erotic Fifty Shades trilogy this weekend. 7 TO REDUCE YOUR WORRIES In her book Shortcuts To Inner Peace (Berkley Publishing Group, $20.95), Ashley Davis Bush comes up with 70 ways to reduce stress and other negative issues in your life, but her imagination-based ‘catch and release’ idea is one she uses regularly. While taking a shower, think of your top three worries. Imagine releasing each one into the water and watch it go down the drain. “It works,” she says, “because you’re setting up an intention to let go of your worries, and this combination of mental intention along with the physical imagery of watching the soap and water go down the drain creates a powerful effect of release.” 8 TO REV UP YOUR BODY Trial after trial proves your mind can physically affect your body. Imagining a flourishing immune system has been shown to increase the efficacy of natural killer cells that destroy invaders, visualising milk flow helped breastfeeding mums produce twice as much milk as those not using mind power, and people imagining themselves as fighter pilots (who need good vision) even improved their eyesight. “The subconscious doesn’t know the difference between reality and fantasy. If you give it instructions with emotion and imagery, you literally create