If you guessed any of these, you're wrong, because these are all tic-tacs!

But if I was a medical professional handing over some tablets to cure your headache or the morning after pill (you wouldn't want that to be a tic-tacs),

how would you know that it's the real deal?

This is where the placebo effect takes place.

Could a doctor give you a pill which is actually a sugar pill (or tic-tac if you say it's supposed to be minty) and cure their patient?

In one study conducted around the placebo effect, it was found that if doctors said that the patient would "feel better in a few more days" that patients recovery was increased

than saying something like "this isn't going to help you at all."

Some studies have even shown that the amount you have to take, the size, how many you have to take a day, what box the drug comes in

and even the colour of the pill can make the effect stronger or weaker.

Even things like getting an injection instead of taking a pill can have a stronger effect, even though they're all medically ineffective.

So does that mean our heads can just heal our bodies?

Some research suggests that the placebo effect works because the body releases endorphins, not to be confused with dolphins.

Endorphins are the body's natural pain killers and could be why the placebo effect works quite well when we're trying to get rid of the pain.

One study found that those who were given a real drug which increased their hormone level had the same amount of increase when they were given a placebo tablet later on.

The same study found that those who didn't get the initial hormonal increase drug didn't see their hormone levels increase.

The placebo effect doesn't work for everyone,

but it's interesting to think that perhaps if we learnt more about it we could eventually cure ourselves with the power of our brains,

which would be much more useful than having to deal with the side-effects of the tablets we take today.