The Placebo Effect Also ‘Applies To Exercise’ But Only When You ‘Think About It’ – Finds New Study

If you find yourself maintaining a healthy diet and engaging in regular exercise but are not achieving the desired weight loss results, there could be additional elements at play affecting your ability to shed pounds, suggests a recent study.

According to the study, one of these factors could be your mindset.

Believing that the training program you are adhering to has been custom-tailored specifically for you can enhance the effectiveness of your workouts, explains Kolbjørn Andreas Lindberg, a research fellow at the University of Agder in Norway.

“If you believe that the training program you are following has been optimized for you,” says Lindberg, adding, “that in itself will have an effect, regardless of the content of the program. It is exactly the same as the placebo effect we know from medicine.”

The findings were published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports.

Have you ever taken paracetamol to alleviate a throbbing headache and noticed an improvement even before the pill had a chance to take effect? If so, you have encountered the placebo effect.

The term “placebo” refers to the peculiar phenomenon where medication or treatment tends to be more effective if you have a belief in its efficacy.

“The placebo effect has been studied for over 70 years,” adds Lindberg, “but looking at it in the context of exercise research is new.”

Placebo drugs play a crucial role in clinical research. In blind trials, both the active drug and the placebo are administered to patients based on a designated code, ensuring that neither the researchers nor the participants know who received what.

By employing this method, researchers can objectively assess the impact of the medication.

A total of forty individuals took part in the study conducted by Lindberg and his colleagues. Following a series of physical examinations in the laboratory, they were assigned different training programs.

Half of the participants were informed that their training program had been specifically customized for them based on the conducted tests. This group was referred to as the intervention group.

Conversely, the other half, known as the control group, did not receive any such message.

Although the training programs provided to both groups differed in terms of weights and repetitions, on average, the programs were similar between the two groups.

Upon completion of the eight to ten weeks of training, the participants underwent further laboratory testing.

According to Lindberg, the outcome demonstrated that individuals who believed they were following a customized training regimen achieved better average results than the control group, even though both groups on average followed the same program.

The research team identified distinctions between the two groups, particularly regarding the squat exercise and overall muscle thickness.

“It may be a little surprising that placebo also applies to exercise. But when you think about it, it makes sense,” Lindberg adds.

He further explains that there were indications that the participants who believed they were adhering to a personalized program trained with a higher intensity and more frequently. Such minor factors can potentially influence the outcome.

He also suggests that the testing process itself could have influenced the outcome. The participants in the intervention group may have felt a sense of obligation to perform well since the program was expected to yield results.

Lindberg points out that the placebo effect is often overlooked when studying the outcomes of exercise. It becomes challenging to conduct a blind study when comparing training frequency, such as training twice a week versus training four times a week.

This poses a dilemma, particularly when new training methodologies emerge, promising favorable results.

“There is good reason to be skeptical of new fancy training approaches that are hyped up in the media. Especially considering that virtually no such studies have been controlled for the placebo effect,” Lindberg adds.

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