How Placebo Effects Work to Change Our Biology & Psychology

**Andrew Huberman** (0:00)
Welcome to the Huberman Lab podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.
I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, we are discussing placebo effects. We will also be discussing what are called nocebo effects, as well as belief effects. All three of these, placebo, nocebo and belief effects, are all related to our brain's incredible ability to place an expectation on what is about to happen and actually change what is about to happen, independent of the physical and chemical properties of a drug or some sort of other treatment solution for things like pain, Parkinson's disease, irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, stress, and on and on and on. Now, one of the most incredible things about these effects is that despite the fact that it would appear that they are simply psychological or the power of the mind over matter, it's not that at all. Placebo, nocebo and belief effects actually change the way your biology, your physiology works. In fact, you have neural circuits within your brain that are dedicated to how your expectation of what will happen actually changes some of the most core biological functions within your brain and body, modifying, for instance, heart rate, blood pressure, the release of specific neuromodulators such as dopamine and adrenaline. And so powerfully so that these types of effects can actually work along with traditional drug treatments or behavioral treatments in order to vastly change the way that your brain and body work. So if you think of the word placebo as an inert substance or treatment that is merely a control, it's merely something introduced to an experiment or a clinical trial to try and figure out what's happening normally in somebody's brain or body as a comparison to some drug or other type of treatment. Well, while that can be true and placebo controls are vital for certain clinical studies, it's also the case that placebos, nocebos and belief effects have powerful impact on our physiology entirely separate from all of that. So much so that several highly esteemed researchers in the medical community around the world believe that placebo, nocebo and belief effects should actually be leveraged in the treatment of various diseases as their own unique treatment. So by the end of today's episode, you are going to have a clear understanding of what placebo, nocebo and belief effects are, their biological underpinnings and the way that you can leverage them toward your mental health, physical health and performance. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is 8 Sleep. 8 Sleep makes smart mattress covers with cooling, heating and sleep tracking capacity. I've spoken many times before on this podcast about the fact that sleep is the foundation of mental health, physical health and performance. Now, one of the key things for getting a great night's sleep is the temperature of your sleeping environment. For instance, in order to fall and stay deeply asleep, your body temperature needs to drop by about one to three degrees. And in order to wake up feeling refreshed, your body temperature actually has to increase by about one to three degrees. With eight sleep, it makes it very easy to control the temperature of your sleeping environment. You can dial in specific temperature ranges for the beginning, middle, and end of your night. It even has a sleep tracker, so it will track your slow wave sleep, REM sleep, total sleep, and give you a sleep score. And you can actually divide the mattress into two different temperatures if someone else in your bed likes things a different temperature. And they of course can have their sleep track independently of yours. It's an absolutely wonderful tool. It's completely transformed my sleep, so much so that when I travel to hotels or Airbnbs, I find I don't ever sleep as well as when I have my eight sleep. I've even shipped my eight sleep out to those places. That gets a little complicated, but that's how much I love my eight sleep. It gives me the best possible night's sleep. If you'd like to try eight sleep, you can go to eightsleep.com/huberman to save up to $150 off their pod three cover. Eight Sleep currently ships in the USA, Canada, UK, select countries in the EU and Australia. Again, that's eightsleep.com/huberman.
Today's episode is also brought to us by Aeropress. Aeropress is similar to a French press for making coffee, but is in fact a much better way to make coffee. I first learned about Aeropress well over 10 years ago, and I've been using one ever since. Aeropress was developed by Alan Adler, who was an engineer at Stanford. And I knew of Alan because he had also built the so-called Aerobi Frisbee. So he was sort of famous in our community for developing these different feats of engineering that turned into commercial products. Now I love coffee. I'm somebody that drinks coffee nearly every day, usually about 90 to 120 minutes after I wake up in the morning, although not always. Sometimes if I'm going to exercise, I'll drink coffee first thing in the morning, but I love, love, love coffee. And what I've personally found is that by using the AeroPress, I can make the best possible tasting cup of coffee. I don't know what exactly it is in the AeroPress that allows the same beans to be prepared into a cup of coffee that tastes that much better as compared to any other form of brewing that coffee, even the traditional French press. The AeroPress is extremely easy to use and it's extremely compact. In fact, I take it with me whenever I travel and I use it on the road in hotels, even on planes. I'll just ask for some hot water and I'll brew my coffee or tea right there on the plane. With over 55,000 five-star reviews, AeroPress is the best reviewed coffee press in the world. If you would like to try AeroPress, you can go to aeropress.com/huberman.