14 DAY TRIAL // Concordia University scientists say that redefining your life goals could bring a positive contribution to improving your overall well-being. This effect is also visible in terms of health. The investigation that led to this conclusion was conducted on women who survived breast cancer.
These test subjects demonstrated a significant improvement in their well-being when they were finally able to renounce the dreams and life goals they had before they became ill, and set new ones instead.
The research is not meant to suggest that people should settle for less. What it does indicate is that people may be better off reformulating their previous goals, so that they are more in tune with the reality of having survived a terminal disease.
Working together with McGill University researcher Catherine Sabiston, PhD, CU expert Carsten Wrosch, PhD, determined that trying to respect the goal set before the onset of the disease led to the development of a self-imposed pressure on the patients.
As soon as this pressure was lifted, women's quality of life improved, alongside their physical health. Interestingly, the new study was conducted in order to determine how to make women who survived breast cancer become more active.
A sedentary lifestyle is a real problem for these women, since nearly 50 percent of those who survive breast cancer are either overweight, or obese. But a general trend towards reduced levels of physical activity was found in all breast cancer patients, not just those of excessive body weight.
In order to ensure that the team gains access to the most relevant data, the study was conducted on 176 women of all ages, from 28 to 79. All of them entered the research about 11 months after they had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and were nearing the end of their 3-month post-treatment.
“By engaging in new goals a person can reduce the distress that arises from the desire to attain the unattainable, while continuing to derive a sense of purpose in life by finding other pursuits of value,” Wrosch explains.
“Abandoning old goals allows someone to invest sufficient time and energy in effectively addressing their new realities,” he goes on to say, quoted by PsychCentral.