Stethoscope? Check. Gloves? Check. Rose-tinted glasses? Er\u2026 <\/p>
Doctors who recommend the power of positive thinking need a taste of their own medicine, it seems. New research shows that you\u2019re more likely to participate in a weight loss programme \u2013 and then succeed in losing more weight \u2013 if your doctor is optimistic.<\/p>
Obesity is a disease which can increase the risk of heart attacks<\/a>, strokes and dementia<\/a>. Estimates suggest that around one in four<\/a> adults in the UK, and two in five adults<\/a> in the US, are obese.<\/p> However, the new study reveals that the patients whose doctors present obesity treatments as positive opportunities lost weight more successfully<\/a> than those whose doctors talk about the negative impacts of obesity \u2013 or do not mention positive or negative impacts at all.<\/p> The study, published in journal Annals of Internal Medicine<\/em>, found that this positive approach is actually the least common in doctors, while taking a neutral approach is the most common. Despite this, patients who are given positive treatment lose four times more weight than those with a neutral doctor.<\/p> For the study, researchers from the University of Oxford analysed the conversations between patients and doctors during a 12-week weight loss programme. They then studied the link between the language used and the success rate of patients, monitoring their participation in the programme and the outcome of their weight loss.<\/p> They characterised the doctors\u2019 language into three different approaches. Those with a \u2018good news\u2019 approach presented the weight loss programme as an opportunity and barely mentioned obesity, body mass index (BMI), or weight as a problem. The researchers described their talking style as smooth, fast-paced and conveying excitement.<\/p> The patients with these doctors lost an average of 4.8 kg (10.6 lb) at the end of 12 months. By comparison, the patients with \u2018bad news\u2019 doctors lost 2.7 kg (6.0 lb). These doctors talk about obesity as a problem, assert themselves as experts, and focus on the challenges of controlling weight. The researchers observed that their delivery style expressed regret and pessimism.<\/p> But the patients with neutral doctors \u2013 who did not make either positive or negative comments about obesity treatment \u2013 lost even less weight, averaging 1.2 kg (2.6 lb).<\/p> The researchers conclude that higher enrolment in the weight loss programme was behind the positive impact of optimistic doctors. That\u2019s because 87 per cent of patients with positive doctors enrolled, compared to less than half of the patients with neutral or pessimistic doctors.<\/p> But getting there is the most important part. The researchers found that, once enrolled, weight loss did not significantly vary between patients in the three different groups.<\/p> Read more:<\/strong><\/p> Stethoscope? Check. Gloves? Check. Rose-tinted glasses? Er\u2026 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":36092,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/11\/youre-more-likely-to-lose-weight-if-your-doctor-is-optimistic-study-finds.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/11\/youre-more-likely-to-lose-weight-if-your-doctor-is-optimistic-study-finds-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/11\/youre-more-likely-to-lose-weight-if-your-doctor-is-optimistic-study-finds-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/11\/youre-more-likely-to-lose-weight-if-your-doctor-is-optimistic-study-finds-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/11\/youre-more-likely-to-lose-weight-if-your-doctor-is-optimistic-study-finds-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/11\/youre-more-likely-to-lose-weight-if-your-doctor-is-optimistic-study-finds.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/11\/youre-more-likely-to-lose-weight-if-your-doctor-is-optimistic-study-finds.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Stethoscope? Check. Gloves? Check. Rose-tinted glasses? Er\u2026","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/36091"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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