Harvard's study on broken ankles and surgical wounds:
Harvard Gazette: Hypnosis helps healing
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A study which shows that if you simply visualize yourself exercising in a gym, you'll indeed attain greater muscular strength.
BBC News | HEALTH | Physical training in your dreams
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This study could be the beginning of a body research showing that one person can actually send positive healing thoughts to another person, resulting in a measurable change in the physiology of the receiving person.
Elsevier
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Masaru Emoto's original experiment (about thoughts affecting water crystals) keeps getting re-performed under stricter and stricter conditions ... and keeps getting positive results. Here's the triple blind version of the experiment:
Entangled Minds: Water crystal replication study
The pilot study:
The effects of distant intention on water crystal formation
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A review of various approaches in healing:
Visualization, Affirmation and Prayer in Healing
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Allergan's Botox has significant positive results for people who get migraine headaches, reducing the number of headaches by nearly eight each month. Most insurance providers won't cover this treatment, however, because the placebo group in the study experienced a decrease of over six headaches each month.
Why does the placebo work nearly as well as the drug for migraine headaches?
Allergan's Botox reduces migraine headache days | Reuters
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The placebo effect: Just thinking that a medicine will relieve pain is enough to prompt the brain to release its own natural painkillers. Research from the University of Michigan:
Thinking the pain away?
The study abstract:
Placebo Effects Mediated by Endogenous Opioid Activity on {micro}-Opioid Receptors -- Journal of Neuroscience
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The placebo effect: This study looked at a nutritional treatment for benign prostate enlargement. "Whereas progression of prostate enlargement occurred in the placebo group . . . the prostate did not enlarge in the lycopene group. Symptoms of the disease, as assessed via the International Prostate Symptom Score questionnaire, were improved in both groups with a significantly greater effect in men taking lycopene supplements."
Why did symptoms improve in the placebo group, even while the physical disorder was getting worse?
Lycopene inhibits disease progression in patients ... [J Nutr. 2008] - PubMed result
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In this study, musical sound had a highly statistically significant effect on the number of seeds sprouted compared to the untreated control over all five experiments. Healing energy also had a significant effect compared to an untreated control.
Measuring effects of music, noise, and healing energy (J Altern Complement Med. 2004)
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Can the power of thought stop or reverse aging?
BBC News - Can the power of thought stop you ageing?
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Surgical wounds heal faster under hypnosis:
Harvard Gazette: Hypnosis helps healing
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Teacher expectations have a significant effect on student success:
Expectancy | in Chapter 15: Social | from Psychology: An Introduction by Russ Dewey
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Injections of hyaluronic acid help relieve symptoms of knee osteoarthritis. The study authors examined the effect of dietary supplementation with hyaluronic acid on pain and quality of life in subjects with osteoarthritis of the knee. Twenty subjects with knee osteoarthritis participated in a randomized double-blind controlled trial. Ten subjects received the HA supplement and 10 placebo for 8 weeks. Both groups had statistically significant improvement, although the group taking HA did better.
Effects of dietary hyaluronic acid supplementation on arthritis
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Specially-coated peppermint oil capsules are very effective at decreasing symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. The coating delays the capsules from being digested until they reach the intestines. Although this study shows that the capsules typically achieved results in twice as many people as the placebos, the placebos did pretty well too.
Figures for the placebo group were: 21 patients (43%) with reduced pain (4 were pain-free), 14 (29%) with reduced distension, 16 (32%) with reduced stool frequency, 15 (31%) with fewer borborygmi, and 11 (22%) with less flatulence.
The pain-free figure was a lot different with the peppermint -- 29 people rather than 4 were pain-free with peppermint. Yet nearly half experienced reduced pain from taking a placebo.
Peppermint oil capsules in the treatment of IBS
(More to come)