Ergogenic effect of peppermint on running performance

• Main Author: Phua, Dennis Khian Ming
• Other Authors: -
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2021
• Subjects: Science::Biological sciences::Human anatomy and physiology
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/153151
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Essential oils have been used as inhalants in several studies as potential ergogenic aids, which are broadly categorized into stimulating and relaxing scents. Peppermint, a stimulating scent, was investigated for its ergogenic effect on medium-distance running performance. A randomized repeated-measures single-blind design was employed. A total of 17 participants signed up, who were required to be at least moderately physically active (as determined by GPAQ), were physically healthy and had no known allergies to any essential oils. Subjects went through repeated measures of peppermint and odorless conditions in a 2 km timed run. Those who were doing the peppermint condition wore a standardized peppermint-scented strip on their perineum. A warm-up protocol was followed prior to the run, lap timings were recorded, and subjects were required to fill up a post-run questionnaire consisting of questions from the NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) and Profile of Mood States (POMS). The average participant was 23 years old (SD = 1.67), and most of them (N = 14) were Singaporean-Chinese. The peppermint condition had a significant but small effect on final run timings [F(1,15) = 13.64, p = .002, η2 = .024]. There was no significant interaction between conditions and lap timings [F(4,60) = 0.85, p = 0.46, η2 = .006]. Overall, there were no significant differences between subjective ratings of workload (both overall and component-based), fatigue, vigor and RPE between both conditions. Peppermint was found to provide slight improvement to run timings given its small effect size. Keywords: Ergogenic, olfactory, peppermint, performance, running