Caffeine trick improves workout (SMH)

Yet another study confirming the power of belief.

... an expert from Coventry University has shown the powerful ways the mind can force the body to work harder.

...

"We found there's a psychological mechanism whereby the person will react depending on what they think they've ingested, rather than what they've actually had," Duncan said.

"The highest power output was when we told them they were having caffeine and we gave it to them.

"Then, at the other end of the scale, their performance dropped quite low when we gave them nothing and told them they had ingested nothing.

"It is almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy - they believe they don't have an advantage and so they perform worse.

"When we told them they were having caffeine but they had something like orange squash, they performed better.

"Their perception of how hard things were was also lower when we told them they had had caffeine - they thought the exercise was less intense than it actually was.