The Placebo Effect

Most people have heard of the placebo effect, but why does it happen ?

In most cases, simply believing that you will get better from a sickness actually does help you get better.
My explanation is that we do actually sub-conciously control our so called 'automatic functions' like the immune system in this case. When you think you'll get better, you make your immune system work harder to rid the sickness. To what extent i do not know of, but im sure it would work for other systems in your body.

One thing is for sure is that we do control our bodies more than we think we do. A large percentage of the brain seems to be unused for most of the time. Perhaps this part of the brain is used for controlling the normally automatic processes in the body ? Who knows. It may be discovered one day to be completely different.

To sum this up, The placebo effect can be extended to my theory that
'We can sub-conciously control our own normally automatic functions' but should not have a very large effect without the obvious actions that can be done to improve bodily functions.

E.g balanced diet = better immune system and other things
E.g Some sort of exercise = higher muscle development

So basically, positive thinking towards health actually does help the body in some way, but towards other things , it would be an entirely different matter.