http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180410-how-your-mindset-determines-your-health Another "Fancy that!" cutting-edge science report from the BBC website.
I saw no mention of the possibility that subjective feelings about fitness may relate to greater physical problems with doing exercise and therefore be associated with, but not cause, physical health problems. eg if doing a certain level of exercise takes more effort that could correlate with both a greater chance of physical health problems and a greater chance of rating oneself as doing less exercise than ones peers. The author, Claudia Hammond, was the facilitator at this Wellcome Event on Exhaustion with Wessely and Anna Katharina Schaffner. https://wellcomecollection.org/events/exhaustion-then-and-now
What a coincidence. I have recently been wondering whether Wellcome Foundation has an agenda, or just too much money. Iwas struck by the fact that Wessely's and also David's early groundbreaking work was funded by Wellcome Foundation grants. We must be grateful for their generosity. Edit I have just noticed this elsewhere, written by Sharpe. "I wish to acknowledge my collaborators in the Oxford Chronic Fatigue Project........The project isfunded by the Wellcome Trust" It's a small world. Non pharmacological approaches to treatment. Michael Sharpe 1993.
If anyone fancies reading it Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28726475 Full PDF: http://octaviazahrt.com/wp-content/...Perceived-Physical-Activity-and-Mortality.pdf
It's funny how the author proposed three explanations, completely ignoring the most obvious: people who are less healthy are less active as a result.