A morning coffee loaded with Caffeine may not work as well as the mind!
Who says?
Researchers at the University of East London fooled, some might say lied, to a proportion of the subjects of their research. They told them the coffee they handed contained caffeine when it did not!
And what happened? You have probably guessed it. There was a measurable improvement in performance and mood of those deceived!
For the caffeine supporters, there was worse to come. In a series of tests devised to assess reaction times, performance and mood, some of the deceived even performed better than those given caffeine!
The researchers included 88 people in their project, ranging in age from 18 to 47. All these volunteers confessed that they drank at least two cups of coffee a day.
It has been fully reported in the magazine Appetite.
However, now with the results, comes the suggestion that maybe the urge for caffeinated morning coffee merely appears to supply the added zest. Instead, psychologically the energy ‘shot’ may come from the mere anticipation of caffeine to buoy up the coffee drinker and not the caffeine itself!
There have been many other startling medical tests where placebos have been found to have as inexplicable and marked beneficial effect on patients, than was enjoyed by those given the actual designed tablets themselves. One suspects that medical researchers will before long discover a facility in the brain which could think ourselves well.
The rather depressing downside to that prospect is the possibility that it will prove too that we can definitely think ourselves ill!
Gerry Neale
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