Another piece of evidence that our thoughts affect the outer world is the Placebo Effect. This is where people can take medicine that is nothing more than a sugar pill, but if they believe that this pill is medicine and that it will help heal them, they can be healed.

In this second of four excerpts from a speech about mastering your mindset, I share research on the Placebo Effect and how people healed themselves of arthritic pain without knowing it.

In this video, I share a Baylor School of Medicine study, the results of which were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2002. At the time, it was believed that the placebo effect did not take place when surgery was involved.

Therefore, the researchers divided patients with severe knee pain into three groups:

Group one had surgery in which their damaged cartilage was shaved off. Group two had surgery in which their knee joint was flushed out. Both of these processes are standard treatment for arthritic knees. Group three, however, received a fake surgery – they were only sedated and made to believe they had knee surgery but didn’t.

All three groups received the same rehab treatment after the “surgery.”

The researchers were astonished to find that the placebo group, those who did not actually receive surgery, improved just as much as those who did receive surgery.

The Placebo Effect in general and this research, in particular, shows how powerful our minds — our belief — can be in affecting our health.

To see the full video, and learn more about my forthcoming book, Celebrate You! Own Your Awesome in Business and Life, on which this presentation is based, go here.

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This video is part of a series based on chapters of my forthcoming book, Celebrate You! Own Your Awesome in Business and Life. If you’d like to receive updates about this book as they become available, from future blog posts to milestones met along the journey, please complete the form below.