RK Tip of the Week|Placebo effect yourself at your next workout

We’ve all heard about the “placebo effect.” How someone given a fake pill has the same results as the person given the real pill. If you’re skeptical in any way about this curious effect, I’ve got a true story that simply forces you to take a look at the power of thought…

Bruce Lipton wrote an amazing book, Biology of Belief, about the power our thoughts to control our cells & genes. Along the same lines, there was a surgeon who did many knee replacements for patients. He wanted to determine what part of his surgery was helping the patient the most so he did a clinical trial. Every person in the trial needed the same knee surgery.

One group had the surgery as normal with regular rehab afterwards, another group had surgery with no rehab, & the third group he brought into the operating room, made incisions as you would for the knee surgery, but never did the full procedure. He simply talked to the nurses as if he was actually doing the surgery & after 40 mins (avg. surgery length), he closed them up & told them to go home & let it heal without rehab. The group that had no surgery at all, only believing they had indeed been treated for their knee issue healed as well as the group that had the surgery & rehab!

The surgeon was astounded at the findings, which showed that the skill with which he performed the surgery actually was not the ‘make or break’ difference in whether a person recovered with a stronger knee. The patient believing in the procedure that they thought had been given to them was all that was needed for optimal healing to occur. This was shocking since before surgery, every patient struggled to walk for any distance & in the end, it did not matter whether they had the surgery or not…their mind created healing in their body.

Does that mean that knee surgery is unnecessary? No, but what it does show you is just how critically important thought control is in the function of the body.

Use this motivation, realization, grain of hope, to realize that your brain & thoughts will be one of the biggest indicators of health & wellness goal achievement, and really in achievement in anything. You’ve seen the ESPN documentaries about athletes who came out of the most difficult neighborhoods & childhoods to become superstar athletes today who are making a difference today in the lives of others.

While Jeremy Schapp will probably not be interviewing you anytime soon for your documentary, just like those high-profile athletes, you do have the power to control what thoughts you have & which ones you let go of- this will in turn help you either achieve & break out of your current circumstance, or well…fail.

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” -Wayne Dyer