- Known as placebo sleep, concept involves telling people they slept deeply
- People who were told this - regardless of whether it was true or not - performed better on memory and attention tests
Feeling tired after a bad night's sleep?
The good news is that simply being told you've slept well could help perk you up.
The phenomenon - coined placebo sleep - involves telling people they've been in a deep sleep even when they haven't.
Students who were told they got a good night’s sleep performed better on tests measuring their attention and memory skills than those who thought they slept poorly.
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'Placebo sleep': Simply being told you've slept well could help perk you up, say scientists
Researchers at Colorado College in the U.S. devised a ruse in which students were told that a new technique – which doesn’t actually exist – could measure their sleep quality from the night before.
They were connected to a machine that measured brainwave frequency and shown dense spreadsheets and formulas.
Some were informed that their deep, or REM, sleep had been above average the night before, a sign that they were mentally alert.
Others were told their REM sleep from the night before had been below average. Students in both groups got a five-minute lesson on sleep quality and its importance to cognitive functioning.
Those who thought they got a good night’s sleep performed much better on real tests that assessed their ability to listen and process information.
Placebo sleep follows the general thinking of placebos - that the outcome of the information was a placebo effect, which has to do with the person’s mindset regarding his or her treatment.
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People who were told they got a good night's sleep - even if they didn't - performed better on tests measuring their attention and memory skills than those who thought they slept poorly
While placebos are widely used in testing pharmaceutical drugs, the researchers say their study highlights 'the importance of perception and the brain’s role in health'.
The research was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition.
Previous research has found that positive thinking helps the body to heal and that knowingly taking a placebo makes you feel better.
Harvard researchers found that harmless sugar pills can ease symptoms even when patients realise they are swallowing placebos.
This, scientists say, suggests that simply thinking positively encourages healing. In tests, 40 patients with irritable bowel disorder were given a tablet with no active ingredients.
After three weeks they reported fewer symptoms than those given no pills at all.
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