The very weight we carry can change our perception of the space
around us, reports the Guardian, with obese people seeing distances
as being at least 10 percent greater than those of average weight do, report
researchers from Colorado State University Fort Collins.
In the journal Acta Psychologica they report
that "it's what you weigh, not what you think." The obese are living
in an "altered reality," reports the Telegraph, but lead
researcher and psychologist Jessica Witt says this can happen to anyone.
"If you find yourself out hiking with a heavy backpack,
hills are going to look steeper, distances are going to look farther, gaps
across a river are going to look longer," she says.
"You’re not seeing the world as it is, you’re seeing the
world in terms of your ability to act." To test this, the researchers went
to Walmart to recruit 66 obese people, and found that a 330-pound person sees
25 yards as 30.
This weight bias works the other way, too—a 130-pound person
sees that same distance as just 15 yards. Participants also performed worse at
tasks when targets appeared smaller, and better when larger.
"We think that these perceptual biases can create a vicious
circle for people with obesity where they see the world as impossible to
navigate," says Witt.
"They will be less likely to choose to be active—and that’s
going to continue in this unhealthy lifestyle." (Obesity is on the rise in every single country around the
world.)
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