[Scroll down to see the VIDEO "Tips for a good night's sleep" by Elsa Punset at el Hormiguero]
Do you usually feel tired after a bad night's sleep?
Según un study carried out by the University of Colorado in the USASimply with being told that you really slept well (and believe it), your mood improves and the fatigue that accompanied you since you got up, decreases.
The Colorado researchers reached these conclusions after conducting an experiment with a group of students: one part of the group was told that they had slept soundly and the other that they had slept poorly. How did this information influence the performance of the participants? Those who believed they had slept well performed better on tests of attention and memory; compared to those students who were led to believe that they had not slept soundly.
To carry out this study, published in the Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition ('Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition'), The researchers told the participants that a new technique had been invented (which did not really exist) with which the quality of sleep could be measured. After giving them this information, they hooked them up to a machine that measured the frequency of brain waves for two nights, recording their brain activity on spreadsheets with many formulas (to make it "totally" credible).
On the second day, and after the brain waves were recorded, some students were told that their REM sleep it had been higher than the night before (they had had a deeper sleep); And the others were told the opposite: that their REM sleep had been less (did not last as long) than that of the night before.
After knowing, both groups, what their REM sleep had been like; They were given a short five-minute session on the importance of sleep quality and its impact on cognitive performance.
What happen after? Students who believed they had a “good night” performed better on tests that evaluated their ability to listen and process information..
This phenomenon has been called "Placebo dream" and it works like all placebos: the person can be self-influenced by the feeling of being treated or, in this case, to receive certain information.
Placebos are used very frequently in pharmaceutical trials because, as the researchers say:"The importance of perception and the role that the brain plays in health is the most relevant aspect of all the studies we conducted on the placebo effect".
Other research on this topic has found, on the one hand, that el positive thinking helps the body heal; and on the other hand, that even knowing you are taking a placebo helps you feel better. An example of this was a study conducted by a group of Harvard researchers who found that (harmless) sugar pills relieved patients' symptoms, even when they knew they were taking a placebo.
"This suggests that simply thinking positively can promote healing.”Say the scientists. "In one of the tests we conducted, 40 patients with irritable bowel disorder were given a pill without active ingredients. After three weeks, they had fewer symptoms than those who received no pill”These researchers add. Source
Knowing now the effect that placebos and, more specifically, the "placebo sleep" have on our performance, perhaps we could use this new “tactic” to help improve the spirits and energy of those who did not sleep as well as they would have liked.
I leave you with a video that will come in handy for those of you who have trouble sleeping well:
If you liked this video, share it with your friends!