Forget the Steroids - Pass the Peppermint!

Can scent affect physical performance? Of course it can. Scent, as Whiff-fans know by now, can affect virtually everything. When psychologists at West Virginia’s Wheeling Jesuit University administered peppermint odors to weightlifters as they trained, the subjects were able to carry out increased numbers of repetitions and had better endurance. Other studies have produced similar results. When assessing performance on specific athletic tasks, athletes exposed to peppermint odor were able to complete a 400-metre dash more quickly, perform more push-ups, and demonstrate increased grip strength.

The implications of these findings were not lost on Dr. Bryan Raudenbush, who led the weightlifting study, and is now marketing an “endurance enhancing” peppermint nasal spray, Scentology, a “time-released, fully invigorating, fresh scent cue scientifically demonstrated to increase physical energy and performance” which “can be used to gain a competitive edge in athletics, or optimize your performance in the workplace.”