I was very sick as a child: I had neurodermitis (Lichen simplex chronicus) so I was constantly scratched bloody. I also had asthma and countless plant, animal and food-allergies, so I couldn&#x27;t eat most things (dairy-products, sugar in every form except honey, salt, chocolate, white flour, eggs, nuts, citrus-fruits, the list goes on and on). Spent a lot of time in hospital.<p>When I was about 9 or 10 years old I got to a point where I was completely fed-up by all the rules I had to follow: Eat this. Don&#x27;t eat this. Be careful during sports because of your asthma. There&#x27;s ozone in the forest.<p>So I decided to ignore every single symptom until it got so strong that I&#x27;d have to go to hospital again. I also started showering cold every day and trained myself to sleep without a blanket, so I wouldn&#x27;t sweat, which would irritate my skin.<p>I don&#x27;t know when it happened, but all my problems completely disappeared over time. I&#x27;m 30 now, tests I do now and then, say my allergies and asthma are still there, but i&#x27;m more or less symptom-free.<p>Whenever I feel bad I consciously use the placebo-effect, for example by drinking a large glass of water and telling myself that THIS glass of water is EXACTLY what my body needed right now and will make everything better.<p>Note that I&#x27;m not advocating to reduce medicine: When I have a headache, I&#x27;m the first to take an aspirin. All I&#x27;m saying is that there&#x27;s definitely a large cognitive component in health and feeling well, which can be trained.