The Hope Experiment πŸ€

Here’s a scary but cool story I found recently called The Hope Experiment… πŸ‘‡πŸ‘‡πŸ‘‡

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During an extremely inhumane study at Harvard in the 1950s, Dr. Curt Richter placed rats in a pool of water to test how long they could tread water. πŸ€

On average the rats would give up and sink after ~15 minutes.

But right before they gave up due to exhaustion, the researchers would pluck them out, dry them off, let them rest for a few minutes – and put them back in for a second round.

In this second try – how long do you think they lasted? πŸ€”

Remember – they had just swam until failure only a few short minutes ago…

How long do you think?

Another 15 minutes?

10 minutes?

5 minutes?

Nope…

They lasted ~60 hours! 😳

Yep, 60 hours of swimming!

The conclusion drawn was that since the rats BELIEVED that they would eventually be rescued, they could push their bodies way past what they previously thought impossible.

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HOPE is a remarkable thing.

It’s more powerful than fear, and it will get you through life’s roughest patches.

Today: Have hope. Keep swimming! You are capable of way more than you think you are.

Happy Monday!
– Joel

PS. Looks like some of Dr. Richter’s original experiment notes can be found here: On the Phenomenon of Sudden Death
in Animals and Man (warning, it’s not for the faint of heart. It really is disgusting how they treat animals 😀)

The hope experiment rats

Feature photo by Taton MoΓ―se