Improving athletic performances

International expert, Dr Fabrizio Benedetti, postulates that placebos can boost an athletes performance by creating the illusion that they have taken performance-enhancing drugs. The Professor warns that the placebo effect in sport is so powerful that sporting bodies need to regulate their use. {comment - Difficult since a placebo has no banned or active ingredients that can be detected using the screening methods in use today! A placebo is a simulated treatment with no physical effect.} Dr Benedetti points to numerous studies in a range of settings and sports that have demonstrated significantly improved results in athletes who understood they were taking performance-enhancing drugs / procedures.

Example

In 2006 a study undertaken at Canterbury University UK looked at cyclists who's performance was improved when they received placebo pills in place of the caffeine pills they thought they were receiving.

The cyclists were informed that they were receiving either a large dose of caffeine, a small dose of caffeine, or a placebo. The cyclists then undertook time trials. The group believing they had been administered the large dose increased their performance from the baseline by 3.1% whilst the cyclists who understood they had been given the small dose of caffeine improved by 1.3%. The remaining group who were told they had taken placebo performed 1.4% less than the baseline. Since all three groups received the placebo the study reflects many other studies demonstrating that placebos can improve athletic performances significantly.

Placebo effects of caffeine on cycling performance - US National Library of Medicine