PLACEBO AFFECTIONS

Researchers of the placebo effect have been looking into the mysterious power of positive thinking. It turns out that belief actually alters brain chemistry, enabling patients who THINK they are receiving medical treatment to get better, even if they are taking little more than a sugar pill. Another way of looking at it: you're not really sick until you believe you are.

People who look on the bright side tend to be healthier and live longer than their pessimistic counter parts. Is it because healthier people tend to be happier, or because keeping a positive frame of mind staves off illness and depression?

Recent studies have revealed that anticipation of relief from a placebo can be enough to improve someone's condition. I find it curious that a society so obsessed with pharmaceutical answers doesn't really need drugs at all. At least not in the capacity that we think we do. Certainly, some drugs are able to do what they say they do - but at what cost? I tend to error on the side of Tom Cruise here (which pretty much makes me insane, I know)...drugs in many cases are more harmful than they are helpful and should only be taken when absolutely necessary.

For most everything else, that pill isn't what's making you feel better - it's the BELIEF that the pill is making you better that's really making the difference. The pill, meanwhile, is altering your biochemistry in ways nature never intended.

Check out this article on the placebo effect for more.

Meanwhile, turn that frown upside down!