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How Placebo Effects Work to Change Our Biology & Psychology — Whalespan

Content›Video›How Placebo Effects Work to …

How Placebo Effects Work to Change Our Biology & Psychology

Andrew Huberman1h 18m · 2024-03-04

Claims Made

123

Claims Supported

110

Support Rate

89%

Support rate

110 of 123 claims supported

110 supported13 partial / not

Claims from this content

96

✓Well SupportedAG1 is a vitamin, mineral, probiotic drink with adaptogens designed to meet foundational nutritional needs and provide insurance for adequate fruit and vegetable intake.✓Well SupportedAndrew Huberman drinks Athletic Greens twice a day, typically once in the morning and again in the afternoon or late afternoon, mixed with water and lemon or lime juice.✓Well SupportedRegular blood work is essential for monitoring factors impacting immediate and long-term health.✓Well SupportedBody temperature must drop by 1-3 degrees Fahrenheit to fall and stay deeply asleep, and must increase by 1-3 degrees Fahrenheit to wake up refreshed.Well Supported

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A. Volkovreader

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Bookmarking — the dossier-vs-overview split is the right call. Most of the time I want overview; sometimes I want receipts.

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✓

An Eight Sleep mattress cover can improve sleep by increasing speed of falling asleep, reducing nighttime awakenings, and enhancing feelings of refreshment upon waking.

✓Well SupportedAG1 is recommended as the single supplement to take for supporting physical health, mental health, and cognitive and physical performance by covering foundational nutritional bases.

✓Well SupportedQuality sleep, regulated by core body temperature changes, is foundational for mental health, physical health, and performance.

✓Well SupportedLevels, a program utilizing a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), provides real-time feedback on how foods, activities, and sleep impact health and blood glucose levels.

✓Well SupportedEight Sleep's Pod 5 features 'Auto Pilot' which adjusts bed temperature, elevates the head if snoring occurs, and optimizes sleep.

✓Well SupportedGut microbiota can influence brain function by producing neurochemicals like GABA, dopamine, and serotonin.

✓Well SupportedBeliefs about the caloric content and nature of food can alter hormonal responses, specifically ghrelin levels, after consumption.

✓Well SupportedUsing a CGM and associated programs can help optimize food combinations, exercise, and sleep schedules for better blood glucose control and energy levels.

✓Well SupportedPersonalized nutrition platforms analyze blood and DNA data to help individuals understand their bodies and achieve health goals.

✓Well SupportedThe belief that a milkshake is high-calorie is associated with greater satiety compared to the belief that it is low-calorie, even when the milkshake is identical.

✓Well SupportedDopamine circuits are involved in motivation and reward, flagging potential rewards, experiencing reward, and driving motivation.

✓Well SupportedThe belief effect of nicotine strength can alter brain response and task performance, even when the actual nicotine dose is the same.

✓Well SupportedBelief effects scale according to the amount and type of information received, unlike placebo effects which are binary.

✓Well SupportedLevels has launched a new smaller CGM sensor with improved tracking and offers two free months of membership.

◐Partially SupportedA saline injection can increase growth hormone and decrease cortisol levels in individuals who have previously received sumatriptan, suggesting a strong placebo effect.

✓Well SupportedInforming hotel workers that moving around during the day is beneficial for health and BMI led to a 12% greater weight loss compared to a control group, despite no difference in measured activity levels.

◐Partially SupportedThe Aeropress coffee maker produces a superior tasting cup of coffee compared to other brewing methods.

✓Well SupportedBeliefs about nicotine concentration can induce dose-dependent cognitive responses, even when the actual nicotine dose is the same.

◐Partially SupportedA study randomized hotel housekeepers into two groups: one informed about the exercise benefits of their work, and one not.

◐Partially SupportedParkinson's disease involves degeneration of dopamine-containing neurons in the substantia nigra, leading to deficits in smooth movement, motivation, and reward pathways.

◐Partially SupportedDrugs like L-DOPA, apomorphine, and bromocriptine increase dopamine levels and can improve Parkinson's symptoms.

✕Not SupportedPlacebos are not effective in reducing the size or eliminating tumors in cancer patients.

✕Not SupportedVaping nicotine and cannabis is not considered a good idea, though it may be less harmful than smoking cigarettes.

✓Well SupportedNicotine is a cognitive enhancer that can increase focus and attention.

◐Partially SupportedA stimulus paired with a food that increases insulin can later evoke an insulin response on its own.

◐Partially SupportedPlacebo pills can increase dopamine release and improve symptoms in Parkinson's patients.

◐Partially SupportedPlacebo effects have a real biological substrate, supported by studies showing correlations between gene expression levels (like COMT) and the degree of placebo response.

◐Partially SupportedThe prefrontal cortex has precise neural connections to deeper brain areas like the hypothalamus and medulla.

◐Partially SupportedReceiving an injection can condition the body to increase growth hormone and decrease cortisol, even with a saline solution.

◐Partially SupportedActivation of specific neurons in the dorsal medial hypothalamus can change blood pressure and cause peripheral vasoconstriction.

◐Partially SupportedThe prefrontal cortex suppresses impulses and evaluates context and predicts outcomes.

◐Partially SupportedCortisol is released from the adrenals and is involved in immune system function, anti-inflammatory action, alertness, and waking.

◐Partially SupportedSpecific subdivisions of the prefrontal cortex have unique neural pathways to brain areas that control physiological functions like heart rate and blood pressure.

◐Partially SupportedThe placebo effect is not consciously leveraged in medicine despite knowledge of its mechanisms.

◐Partially SupportedTelling individuals a drug will increase dopamine reduces raclopride binding to dopamine receptors.

◐Partially SupportedPlacebo effects occur when an inert substance or treatment improves symptoms or performance.

◐Partially SupportedBeliefs and information can activate neural circuits in the prefrontal cortex, which then signal deeper brain areas like the hypothalamus to induce physiological changes.

◐Partially SupportedMindsets and beliefs can influence the effectiveness of behavioral medicine interventions like exercise and nutrition.

◐Partially SupportedBehavioral practices like meditation, sleep, and social support can improve cancer outcomes.

◐Partially SupportedPlacebo effects driven by knowledge, belief, and expectation can improve treatment outcomes.

◐Partially SupportedThe COMT gene is correlated with placebo effect variability.

◐Partially SupportedCertain genes correlate with an individual's susceptibility to placebo effects.

◐Partially SupportedBeliefs and expectations are powerful but not omnipotent, as evidenced by the placebo effect.

◐Partially SupportedBelief effects are triggered when specific knowledge changes expectations about physiological or psychological outcomes related to stress, food, drugs, or behavioral protocols.

◐Partially SupportedPlacebo effects can be leveraged in the context of treating disease.

◐Partially SupportedThe prefrontal cortex functions as a context-evaluating and prediction machine, suppressing certain behaviors and guiding decisions.

◐Partially SupportedAndrew Huberman drinks coffee approximately 90-120 minutes after waking, but sometimes drinks it first thing in the morning if exercising.

◐Partially SupportedPrefrontal cortex activity driven by expectation can influence pain, dopamine, and other brain and body systems.

◐Partially SupportedPlacebo and nocebo effects show that expectations can alter physiology.

◐Partially SupportedThe invasiveness of a placebo intervention correlates with the magnitude of the placebo effect, with injections having a greater effect than capsules or tablets, and medical devices yielding the largest effects.

◐Partially SupportedThe strength of expectation, which underpins placebo effects, decreases if people realize they are taking a placebo.

◐Partially SupportedThe color of a pill can influence the placebo effect, with blue pills associated with sleep, red pills with stimulants, and yellow pills with antidepressant effects.

◐Partially SupportedPlacebo controls in clinical trials measure the difference between a drug's effect and the effect of expectation.

◐Partially SupportedDegeneration of dopamine-producing neurons in the substantia nigra impairs smooth movement in Parkinson's patients.

◐Partially SupportedThere is no direct neural or hormonal pathway for thoughts from the prefrontal cortex to directly impact muscle growth.

◐Partially SupportedApproximately 30% of individuals in placebo studies show a robust placebo effect, while 70% show a less robust effect.

◐Partially SupportedFabrizio Benedetti's book 'Placebo Effects: Understanding the Other Side of Medical Care' is a valuable resource for understanding the biological underpinnings of placebo effects.

◐Partially SupportedPrimitive physiological responses to food can be influenced by sophisticated brain functions, demonstrating that beliefs can impact physiological reality.

◐Partially SupportedKnowledge, anticipation, and thinking can influence hunger hormones, pain perception, and dopamine levels.

◐Partially SupportedPlacebo, nocebo, and belief effects can change biological and physiological functions.

◐Partially SupportedPlacebo effects are specific and cannot completely eliminate all symptoms of a condition like asthma or cancer.

◐Partially SupportedPlacebo effects can reduce symptoms of chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

◐Partially SupportedPlacebo effects scale with the degree of expectation.

◐Partially SupportedA conditioned insulin response can be triggered by a stimulus previously paired with food, even without the food.

◐Partially SupportedBelieving that daily activities like folding laundry and climbing stairs constitute exercise can lead to reductions in blood pressure, body weight, and improvements in other health metrics.

◐Partially SupportedContext can modify the impact of active drugs on the brain and body.

◐Partially SupportedIn a study of asthma patients, a placebo treatment reduced discomfort in breathing but did not change breathing patterns.

◐Partially SupportedA dose-dependent placebo effect can occur, influencing cognitive task performance.

◐Partially SupportedPlacebo effects are biological effects that can influence biological systems.

◐Partially SupportedPlacebo effects are influenced by the perceived quality of a treatment, with brand-name placebos showing stronger effects than generic ones.

◐Partially SupportedPlacebo, nocebo, and belief effects operate by altering expectations through the nervous system, particularly the prefrontal cortex.

◐Partially SupportedThe prefrontal cortex integrates contextual information, past memories, and future goals to generate neural signals that control basic physiological functions.

◐Partially SupportedNicotine use can increase blood pressure and cause vasoconstriction.

◐Partially SupportedThe human brain associates higher invasiveness and complexity of treatment with greater outcomes, influencing the placebo effect.

◐Partially SupportedPlacebos can reduce negative symptoms of chemotherapy or radiation therapy but do not affect cancer progression.

◐Partially SupportedPhysiology, such as the activity of a specific brain region, can increase its output level according to the expectation of the drug dose consumed, even if the actual dose is the same.

◐Partially SupportedThe color of a placebo pill can influence its perceived effect on sleep, with blue pills associated with better sleep.

◐Partially SupportedThe prefrontal cortex can activate or suppress other neural circuits deeper in the brain.

◐Partially SupportedThe positive physiological effects attributed to exercise might be largely due to placebo effects, a hypothesis tested by examining hotel service workers.

◐Partially SupportedPlacebo effects can reduce discomfort associated with breathing challenges but do not eliminate the challenges themselves.

◐Partially SupportedThe hypothalamus is involved in placebo and nocebo effects.

◐Partially SupportedThe dorsal peduncular cortex and dorsal tegmental nucleus in the prefrontal cortex send connections to the dorsal medial hypothalamus, which controls cardinal features of the stress response.

◐Partially SupportedDr. Ted Kaptchuk's lab at Harvard Medical School has conducted significant research on placebo effects.

◐Partially SupportedThe neural pathway for the stress response moves from the prefrontal cortex to the hypothalamus, then to the brain stem, and finally to the periphery.

◐Partially SupportedThe brain acts as a prediction machine that simplifies information by lumping data together, which can lead to subconscious effects on physiological processes like hormone release.

◐Partially SupportedThe prefrontal cortex processes environmental cues to generate anticipatory hormonal responses like insulin release.

◐Partially SupportedGrowth hormone is released from the anterior pituitary during sleep and is involved in protein synthesis, tissue repair, and growth.

◐Partially SupportedThe packaging and labeling of a placebo can enhance its placebo effect.

◐Partially SupportedPlacebo effects, driven by knowledge and beliefs, can influence biological systems like dopamine release.

◐Partially SupportedDrugs, radiation, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and devices are known to reduce tumor size and potentially eliminate cancerous tumors.

◐Partially SupportedThe COMT gene encodes an enzyme involved in regulating catecholamines like dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine.

◐Partially SupportedExpectations and beliefs, mediated by the prefrontal cortex, can impact physiological processes such as hormone release and pain perception.