Who has never felt fatigue invade him at the mere idea of going to the bathroom? sport ? So that demotivation is only a distant memory, Swiss and German researchers may have found the solution: the placebo effect! They presented their research in the journal Plos One.
You just have to believe
To reach this conclusion, the authors recruited 78 volunteers aged 18 to 32. They invited them to put on a t-shirt from a well-known sports brand, before asking them to judge their physical condition. The participants were then divided into four groups according to their level and short films were shown to them. The first two groups watched a sequence extolling the immediate positive effects of physical activity to come, while the last two watched a video mitigating its benefits. These films also presented to the first group the t-shirt that had been provided to them as a prop to amplify the effects of exercise on health, and to the other groups as a garment that simply reduced sweating. The researchers then invited the participants to pedal an ergometer bike for 30 minutes.
Result: the volunteers who had been told that this physical activity had immediate benefits went at the end of the session feeling less fatigue than the others. The t-shirt also had a positive impact on the less athletic participants in the first group, who were told that the garment accentuated the effects of sports. The placebo effect would therefore have a real impact on performance! “This research shows that the right accessory can really make sport more enjoyable for those who don’t consider themselves to be great sportsmen – if only you believe it”, concludes Hendrik Mothes, co-author of the study.
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