A Wider World
When we set out to understand more about our minds and bodies, it can sometimes be difficult to know how to approach it - or what information to rely on. Of course, working with the mind and body draws from both art and science. But when we seek facts - especially in modern times - we often turn to science.
Yet, science may be something much larger, much more fascinating and mysterious, than what is commonly shared with us in the popular press or enshrined in common knowledge.
One view sees science as a fixed body of knowledge - handed down by experts who already have the answers, neatly packaged and complete.
This perspective treats knowledge like a finished map, where our only role is to read and absorb what others have charted.
We believe what we’re told.
And we do so because those who seem to know more than us assure us that this is “science” writ large.
But there’s another way to see it.
What if we viewed learning - about our minds, bodies, and the art and science that impact them - as an ongoing, exciting adventure?
One where we begin to ask questions, investigate deeply, and sometimes even question assumptions.
What if we were to shift from simply consuming knowledge to actively discovering it?
Instead of waiting for others to report back with new findings, we navigate the unknown, redraw the maps, and, in doing so, expand our understanding of what is possible.
As we learn more, our view of the world shifts, revealing new insights we never could have seen before.
Just as our body is an event that is ever shifting - our understanding can become something that shifts and changes with time as well.
Other People’s Maps May Limit You
If you accepted the charted maps at the time of Christopher Columbus, you would have had a much narrower view of what actually existed in the world at that time than what actually did exist.
And if you accept many of the maps today, similarly, you are accepting maps that may limit your world and don’t give you an accurate view.
Leaving out a continent from a map fundamentally changes how you view the world - and greatly lessens your ability to wonder about and get excited about the possibilities that are out there.
Below, I'm going to give just four examples (from hundreds) of how the popular understanding (the accepted “maps”) that surrounds us today often limits or impacts many people's view, choices, and approach.
Flexibility
Just as brushing your teeth helps keep them clean, but fixing a cavity requires specific knowledge and steps, general activity to loosen up or be a bit more flexible is quite different from work that makes significant changes in flexibility - which requires a specialized, dedicated approach.
Yet, most people don’t know this.
To change flexibility, people often turn to practices like yoga, assisted stretching, or the common warm-ups you see gym-goers do before exercise.
There’s nothing wrong with, and many things right with, these practices, but they simply aren’t the same thing, nor can they achieve the same results as an informed, dedicated approach to training that focuses on altering range of motion and flexibility.
Unlike understanding that brushing your teeth is not the same as fixing a cavity, most people don’t realize that significant changes in flexibility require far more knowledge and a much more consistent and longer time horizon than what is commonly available.
The result: They accept, pay for, and perform things that are the wrong tool for the wrong goal.
Maximum Heart Rate Calculations
As reported by the New York Times almost 25 years ago and a Journal of Exercise Physiology article in May of 2002, the original formula for estimating maximum heart rate - commonly known as the 220 minus age formula - is based mostly on conjecture and barely any science.
In short: For a fair portion of the healthy public, it’s not accurate.
The formula was never intended to be representative of the general population but rather came from attempts to understand data related to individuals with heart disease.
It was created in 1970 by Dr. William Haskell, a physician in the beginning of his career in the Federal Public Health Service, and a more senior associate, Dr. Samuel Fox, who led the program on heart disease.
The formula was based on data from only 11 references, some of which were unpublished.
And it originated not from rigorous testing or extensive peer review but from a single conversation on an airplane between the two researchers - right before they had to give a presentation at a conference.
They were simply trying to figure out a method to understand how strenuously heart disease patients could exercise.
Lack of Scientific Validation
Exercise physiologists who have investigated the formula have found that much of the original research doesn’t even provide complete references or citations. More importantly, information on calculating maximum heart rate is incomplete and very difficult to verify.
Their conclusion in 2002 was that currently, in healthy individuals, there is no acceptable method to estimate heart rate max.
Why It Became Accepted Anyway
Because doctors working with heart patients in the 1970s wanted a way to measure intensity, this premise was quickly accepted.
Moreover, because the fitness industry enshrined it in their products—including selling millions of heart monitors per year in the United States—it became accepted knowledge, despite its likely inaccuracy for healthy individuals.
There’s More to Know
What's more, some well informed trainers and running coaches know from simple observation that these formulas are not accurate predictors of what is going on in their healthy clients.
Age
Age is often treated as a rigid framework that dictates what we can and cannot do. We’re told that certain abilities inevitably decline, that our bodies and minds follow a predetermined trajectory, and that expectations should adjust accordingly.
And while there’s some truth in these gross overgeneralizations - such as sarcopenia, the lessening of muscle mass over time, and the reduction of reflex reaction times - it's the case that not much changes about the body's reaction to exercise throughout the entire lifespan.
The only real difference is that the body has had more time to absorb injuries and wear and tear. However, the underlying physiology reacts more or less the same. Although some hormonal changes may occur, it is fundamentally the same system responding in the same way.
Trainers, bodybuilders, and others who work with older clients see countless examples of the body responding powerfully to exercise.
Likewise, there are many individuals in their 60s, 70s, and 80s who stand as elite specimens of both function and aesthetics.
When the famous American football quarterback, Tom Brady, was in his 40s, sportscasters on national TV in the United States repeatedly claimed that he was too old to compete - and predicted that he would drag his team down, - insisting that, due to age, he could no longer perform at the highest level.
Yet, he went on to win the elite level competition - the Super Bowl.
The fact that such narratives persist - even among professionals in the sports industry - shows just how deeply ingrained these myths about age and physical decline truly are.
Hormonal Changes & Physical Potential
While it's true that hormone levels shift with age, the idea that this makes high-level physical performance impossible is a myth. Here’s why:
Testosterone & Muscle Growth – Testosterone levels decline with age, but strength training itself boosts testosterone production, even in older adults. Many bodybuilders in their 50s, 60s, and beyond continue to build significant muscle.
Estrogen, Progesterone & Women’s Strength – Menopause brings hormonal shifts, but women can still gain muscle, improve endurance, and strengthen bones through resistance training. Weightlifting has been shown to combat osteoporosis and maintain lean mass post-menopause.
Elite Older Athletes Exist – If hormone decline were truly determinative, we wouldn’t see bodybuilders, powerlifters, and endurance athletes in their 60s and 70s outperforming younger competitors—but we do.
Training & Lifestyle vs. Hormones Alone – Many declines attributed to aging are actually the result of reduced training intensity, poor recovery, and lower protein intake. The body remains highly adaptable when given the right stimulus.
The Brain
Most people don’t realize that to completely map the connections in the human brain would take more storage space than physically exists on the planet Earth today. That is the vastness and complexity of the interconnections of the billions of neurons inside the human brain.
In fact, even attempting to map a tiny sliver of a mouse brain is a complex process.
Additionally, we are constantly discovering new areas of the brain that we’ve never seen before and learning more about how its intricate networks function in ways previously unknown. Projects like the Human Connectome Project are working to map these complex neural pathways, revealing deeper insights into both newly identified regions and the hidden roles of areas we thought we understood.
When explaining human behavior, people often rely on metaphors to describe how the brain works, yet our actual understanding remains extremely limited.
For example, fear is commonly attributed to the amygdala, as if it is the sole cause.
While the amygdala plays an important role in fear processing, there are documented cases of individuals with bilateral amygdala damage (damage to both sides) who still experience fear.
By asking why people with a damaged amygdala can still feel fear, we move beyond simplistic explanations and begin to uncover the deeper, more complex mechanisms behind how fear actually works.
But if you don’t mind a map that leaves off an entire continent, saying that the amygdala causes fear might work for you.
Toward a Wider, More Exciting, More Accurate Outlook
We all have choices about how we look at the world and the level of complexity with which we choose to understand it. However, there is a difference between standing on the ground with your feet firmly planted in commonly accepted but imperfect and incomplete maps, or climbing aboard a vessel for an exciting journey of discovery - to see what is really out there, what actually exists, and to open up new routes and possibilities in your life because you are willing to investigate and move forward.
It's not just the journey that's important, but the way the journey you choose influences how you view the human mind and body - and the art and science of working with and understanding them.
Do you see it as an exciting, unfolding, ever-changing, moment-to-moment experience, or as secondhand news - fixed, static, and known only by a select few?
Disclaimer:
The information and content provided by Mind Body Literacy and in this article is general information and is intended for educational purposes only. Individual situations vary. This content is not intended as, nor should it be used as a substitute for, professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. No guarantee or warranties are given with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the content.