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If your mind truly believes your medicines will work, they may actually have more of an effect in your body, according to numerous studies examining this so-called "placebo effect." "Your expectations can have profound impacts on your brain and your health," Columbia University neuroscientist Tor Wager told the Associated Press. It has long been believed that the placebo effect was psychological. However, new studies are offering direct evidence that the placebo effect is physical and that expectations of benefiting from treatment actually activate the same neurological healing pathways that are triggered by drugs. One example is new research that suggests that a proven painkiller doesn't work as well once Alzheimer's disease robs people of the ability to expect that the painkiller will help them, the AP reported. Another example involves Parkinson's disease patients who were given a placebo while researchers measured electrical activity of individual nerve cells in an area of the brain that controls movement. After the Parkinson's patients received the placebo, there was a 40 percent decrease in the firing of these nerve cells that correlated with improvement in the patients' ability to move, the AP reported. ----- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn