Reebok fresh started selling a walking shoe, called Easytone, that is supposed to tone your leg and butt muscles while you walk.
And the sound machine swung into action. The Easytone shoe has made a Brobdingnagian splash--TV appearances, newspaper and magazine articles, buzz, buzz, buzz.
If the shoe fits, does it really firm up those muscles? Does the Easytone shoe work?
Dan Ariely is James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University is skeptical. He points out that the scientific evidence is thin. Reports of Easytone effectiveness may, he speculates, may be due to the placebo effect. (Placebos are inert pills or any item that can't possibly be of direct medical benefit, but ease makes grouping intend better.)
The placebo effect is enormously important in medicine. When a new drug is tested on grouping and turns out to be effective, a notable number of grouping in the control group, who received a sham pill kinda than the real thing, always intend better too.
As it turns out, the placebo effect contributes heavily to the positive effects of exercise too. When grouping are told (falsely) that a particular activity is good exercise, many of them believe it so strongly that they retrograde weight and embody fat and their blood pressure even goes down. Which has me wondering how I can persuade myself that datum in bed, sleeping late, and taking long hot showers will make me thinner.
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