Placebo Improves Athletic Performance

Mental strength plays a vital role in physical performance. You probably have reached that point during a workout when you think you can’t possibly run one more step or lift one more rep. Then you see the person next to you working out harder, or you hear an uplifting song, and somehow you keep going. When it comes to physical activity, does mental strength play as big a role as physical strength? A recent study analyzed the effect of placebos on athletic performance.

The study included fifteen male runners who volunteered for the program. The participants were told they were taking a legal form of erythropoietin, a substance that increases red blood cells. This is considered illegal in many sports because increasing the number of red blood cells increases the amount of oxygen carried to muscles and improves endurance. The participants were given saline through an injection because the placebo effect is usually stronger when injected versus swallowed.

Before being given the placebo, the volunteers competed in a three kilometer race at baseline.Two weeks after being given the placebo, they competed in a race of the same distance. Most of the men felt like the “drug” had a substantial effect on their performance. The athletes noted their workouts felt easier, they were more motivated to push themselves and they recovered more quickly. At the second race, almost all of the men improved their race time by 1.5 percent.

Bottom Line: Mental strength may be just as important as physical strength during your workout. When you feel like you can’t run another step or perform another rep, tell yourself that you can. We may not be able to trick ourselves with placebos, but we can work on building confidence to break through mental barriers while exercising.

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