Thread: Using the Placebo Effect in Lucid Dreams

There have been many sham treatments in the past claiming to cure a wide variety of ailments. As described in Scientific American, in some cases the placebo effect has even been shown to cure cancer. Source: Placebo Effect: A Cure in the Mind: Scientific American

However, there has been little research on what other applications the placebo effect could used in. This is mainly due to the fact that placebo treatments are mainly aimed at curing ailments, as opposed to extending a completely healthy person's capacities. Therefore, another source of the placebo effect is needed for further research to take place. One needs to draw upon the capabilities of their subconscious mind, namely in lucid dreams, to take advantage of further applications of the placebo effect. Lucid dreams allow the dreamer a great deal control over their subconscious, and therefore have a great deal of potential in increasing one's waking physical capacities through the use of the placebo effect. Given that lucid dreams allow subconscious control to such a high degree, one can only wonder if they can be used to achieve the same results of the placebo effect, except to a much higher degree.


What I would like to propose is a study in which lucid dreamers attempt to use the placebo effect in certain real-life applications, such as: (but not limited to)

1. Increasing physical strength and endurance
2. Increasing various aspects of one's mental capabilities, including fluid intelligence, memory, and extended waking awareness
3. Achieving a higher pain threshold
4. Increasing overall health
5. Sports and martial arts training, etc.


In this study, over the course of 30 days lucid dreamers will choose an aspect of their waking physical capacities that they wish to improve strictly using only the placebo effect. Using other methods of increasing one's physical capacity in the chosen area in addition to the placebo effect is discouraged, as this may skew the results.


Methodology

You may be wondering how one achieves the placebo effect from inside a lucid dream. This effect is equivalent to finding a stone which enables you to fly, or believing that a door will appear when you turn the corner of a building. The placebo effect is simply believing that something will happen, which may or may not occur because of some outside intervention (which is the case with the rock which enables you to fly). Given the degree of the effects we are looking to achieve, simply passively believing that something is the case will not suffice, and will require a more active and effective approach. Thus, we will be using a special type of drink, which will be used to spur placebo-like changes in the capacities of the physical body.

At some point after the dreamer becomes lucid, he/she will find a see-through plastic box located on top of a table of the dreamer's choosing. This box will be covered with a thin, black or red silk fabric. The dreamer must go up to the box, and remove the fabric to reveal a cup inside the see-through plastic box. This cup will be located on the left hand side of the box. The cup is filled with a light blue liquid, which is designed to substantially increase the effectiveness of the placebo once it is drunk. Also inside the see-through plastic box is a smaller, shot glass-sized cup which contains a red, green, or blue liquid. Which color of the liquid is of the dreamer's choosing. This liquid is specifically designed to substantially increase one's physical capacity in the area that the lucid dreamer chooses, in waking life (be it mental capacity, physical strength, etc). The lucid dreamer will remove the top of the see-through plastic box. He/she will now pour the contents of the shot glass into the larger glass containing the liquid that enhances the effects. Once the shot glass is emptied into the larger glass, the lucid dreamer will drink the entire contents of the glass, which will taste surprisingly good. Once the entire glass is drunk, the liquids' powerful effects will envelop the lucid dreamer's body, and completely transform the area in which it is intended to enhance. The lucid dreamer experiences the positive effects taking place in their physical body, and once they reach maximum effectiveness, promptly wakes up so as to ensure that the effects are carried over in full to waking life.

This will be repeated a minimum of once per week, although it is suggested that it is repeated as many times as possible, to gain the maximum benefits.



To participate in this experiment, simply reply, stating which aspect of the physical body you will aim to enhance. Subsequently, you will update your results in this thread, preferably every time you drink the physical enhancer.


Good luck!

-MindGames