![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Woman-sleeping.png?w=1024\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe science behind placebo sleep<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A study from 2014 may have demonstrated the existence of something called \u201cplacebo sleep,\u201d or tricking your brain into believing you slept better than you did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The placebo effect, of course, has been studied relentlessly over the years and has shown that the human body can do amazing, almost impossible things, when the brain gets on board. The classic example is when symptoms of disease get measurably better after a patient takes a \u201cfake\u201d pill. Another study out of Harvard showed that people who were told their jobs qualified as exercise showed improved health and fitness markers compared to people who did the same job. Placebos even work when the person knows they\u2019re taking a placebo. It\u2019s called an \u201chonest placebo\u201d and is considered a legitimate, ethical treatment method for many ailments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The researchers in 2014 wanted to find out if the placebo effect could also apply to sleep. So, they lectured a group of participants about the importance of REM sleep and how it can effect cognitive functioning. The participants were then split into two groups and monitored overnight while they slept. The next morning, one group was told they achieved 28.7% REM sleep, which is terrific, and the other group was told they only spent 16.2% of their sleep time in REM, which is below average. The numbers, however, were complete fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stunningly, the participants who believed they achieved top quality sleep performed better the next day on a series of arithmetic and word association tests compared to the other groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In their conclusion, the authors wrote, \u201cThese findings supported the hypothesis that mindset can influence cognitive states in both positive and negative directions, suggesting a means of controlling one\u2019s health and cognition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Smithsonian Magazine, follow up experiments confirmed the findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The key to feeling great and performing as if you had a great night\u2019s sleep may lie in simply believing that you did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to trick your brain into resting better<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are a lot of ways to \u201cplacebo your sleep\u201d in order to generate that belief. For starters, you can adopt a new routine or technique or even supplement in order to prime your brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John Cline Ph.D. asserts for Psychology Today that the popularity of sleeping aids like melatonin may be tied less to the fact that they work, and more to the fact that people believe they work. But you don\u2019t need to take any supplements or medications. Having a slow evening wind down with a book and an herbal tea, trying a new sleeping position, or practicing some measured breathing might work just as well. Or, rather, they might work precisely because you believe they will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You could take the concept a step further and alter your morning routine on nights you know for a fact you didn\u2019t sleep well. Perhaps it\u2019s by using a new coffee brand, doing some stretches before getting out of bed, or meditating before starting your day. Anything that you truly believe might help make you more alert and focused may just work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The TikTok trend putting this to the test<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One viral social media sleep trend capitalizes on this research perfectly. Researchers have shown that forcing your mouth into a smile has been shown to improve your mood. Turns out, similarly, you may be able to get sleepy by pretending to be super tired. Psychologist Erica Terblanche calls it the \u201calpha bridge,\u201d and it involves gently closing your eyes, fluttering them open just a tad, and then closing them again as you relax and breath. It simulates the feeling of \u201cnodding off\u201d and is said to create the alpha brainwaves that transition your brain from wakefulness to sleep. It\u2019s another clever way of tricking your own brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It sounds cheesy, but the power of mindset and positive thinking is truly tremendous. Our beliefs and thought patterns can greatly influence our body, our behavior, and our mood. Sometimes, our mindset can even be stronger than actual reality. Now we have the data to prove that it applies to our precious sleep, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cPlacebo sleep\u201d can be extremely powerful. The benefits of getting a good night\u2019s sleep are too vast to name. Sleep is as essential for our brains as food and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/749846753_27408794588812340_3862608583196157708_n.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10431"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10434,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10431\/revisions\/10434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}