That's interesting, and it's good to know that my sleep improvement might be perceived rather than actual.
That said, this is just evidence that the placebo effect may not apply in this case. It's not evidence that if interventions only work due to the placebo effect, they don't work. You've convinced me that I'm probably not experiencing benefits from the placebo effect in this case, but that conclusion is unrelated to the conclusion of your previous post.
I'll also add that your assertion that pain perception is the only thing that responds to placebo is incorrect. Placebo is effective on a wide variety of things, including weight loss[1], itching[2], asthma[3] and warts[4] (that last one surprised me).
There's also lots of cases where placebo makes things worse, such as people responding to placebo poison ivy[5].
Finally, there's lots of cases where things which were used in studies for placebos turn out to be active. For example, a study of insulin and chromium in sugary foods for diabetics used apple pie as a control source of sugar, but discovered that the cinnamon in the pie produced a larger effect on insulin resistance than the chromium.
That said, this is just evidence that the placebo effect may not apply in this case. It's not evidence that if interventions only work due to the placebo effect, they don't work. You've convinced me that I'm probably not experiencing benefits from the placebo effect in this case, but that conclusion is unrelated to the conclusion of your previous post.
I'll also add that your assertion that pain perception is the only thing that responds to placebo is incorrect. Placebo is effective on a wide variety of things, including weight loss[1], itching[2], asthma[3] and warts[4] (that last one surprised me).
There's also lots of cases where placebo makes things worse, such as people responding to placebo poison ivy[5].
Finally, there's lots of cases where things which were used in studies for placebos turn out to be active. For example, a study of insulin and chromium in sugary foods for diabetics used apple pie as a control source of sugar, but discovered that the cinnamon in the pie produced a larger effect on insulin resistance than the chromium.
[1] http://www.drsharma.ca/the-power-of-placebo-in-weight-loss-t...
[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022202X1...
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4351653/ Note that in this case, symptoms were improved but lung function was not.
[4] https://www.contemporarypediatrics.com/pediatric-dermatology...
[5] http://www.theworldcounts.com/life/potentials/placebo-effect...
[6]