Working out while sipping on a pink drink makes people perform better while enjoying it more, a recent research found. Apparently, our brains pick on cues from the liquid colour to enhance performance.

Want to run faster and enjoy workouts more? Drink pink water

It’s quite unbelievable, but a recent experiment revealed that we are wired to react on pink colored liquid in a special way, as compared to clear drinks.

Scientists from the University of Westminster in London asked 10 volunteers to run on a treadmill for half an hour. Participants in the process had to run at a constant speed, which they chose independently. In the process, the participants used low-calorie drinks with sweeteners. The drinks didn’t differ in anything but color. Some of them were transparent, and some of them were pink. Each of the participants completed two races.

Those of the participants who got the pink drink, on average, ran 212 meters more. And their speed was 4.4% higher than that of those who drank clear liquid. In general, participants from the first group ran about 5047 m, and from the second — 4835 m.

In addition, the first group got more pleasure from running.

The subjects noted that the training was easier and more pleasant for them.

Participants in the process had to run at a constant speed, which they chose independently.

Pink means something sweet

When consuming carbohydrates during exercise, the loads are given to athletes more easily, the researchers explain in their article in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition. The pink color in food is usually associated with high-carb foods like sweets. Therefore, scientists were interested in whether the pink color itself can give any effect.

The results of the study combine the art of gastronomy with sports nutrition.

Adding pink dye to the sweetened liquid not only made it subjectively sweeter for the participants. It increased the feeling of pleasure, the speed of running and the distance covered.

The pink color in food is usually associated with high-carb foods like sweets.

Swear in order to run faster

Earlier, another team of British specialists found out that obscene language also adds strength.

During physical activity, the volunteers were asked to repeat the same swear word of their choice. The control group was also not silent — the participants were asked to repeat a neutral word instead of swearing.

In the second experiment, 52 volunteers have already passed a test to measure the muscular effort of the hands. It also measured performance, but was not extreme.

“The reason we did this study was because we expected to see a fight-or-flight response,” the researchers said. “But the experimental data don’t support this view, and we don’t know how swearing works. The effect may have common roots with the perception of pain. The medical literature describes how different strategies can dull the perception of pain — for example, someone just needs to be distracted by something.”

Scientists have suggested that the observed effect may be related to what psychologists call generalized inhibition — when people swear, they do not think about anything. In general, the effect may have common roots with the perception of pain. The medical literature describes how different strategies can blunt the perception of pain — for example, someone just needs to be distracted by something.

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