Buzz
Athletes are known for pushing themselves physically, but it's rare to see one smiling in the midst of competition. Surprisingly, many coaches encourage their athletes to grin during races, believing it helps relax muscles and improve performance. A team of researchers recently tested this idea, as reported by The New York Times. Their results were shared in the journal Psychology of Sport and Exercise.
Researchers from Ulster University in Northern Ireland and Swansea University in Wales asked 24 non-professional runners, both male and female, to alternate between smiling and scowling while running on a treadmill. The participants were informed that the study aimed to assess how certain emotional expressions impacted their oxygen consumption at different speeds.
During the first phase of the experiment, participants wore face masks that tracked their breathing. As they continued running until exhaustion, they were asked to evaluate their emotional state and describe how they managed discomfort—whether they chose to ignore it or confront it.
The second part of the experiment involved participants completing four separate runs, each lasting six minutes. During each run, they were instructed to either smile continuously and genuinely, scowl, use a visualization technique to relax their torsos, or simply maintain their usual mindset for endurance.
Smiling didn’t always boost the runners’ performances. Some participants increased their speed while scowling, perhaps because the intense facial expression pushed them to be more determined to beat their records. However, in general, those who smiled were nearly 3 percent more efficient than their usual pace. While this difference might seem small, experts say it can significantly impact a race's outcome.
Taking the small sample size into account, the researchers concluded that smiling while exercising could reduce muscle tension, thus improving performance. However, for the effect to be beneficial, athletes must smile genuinely. Fake smiles, such as those common in school photos, don’t activate as many facial muscles and therefore don’t provide the same relaxation benefits.
Since it’s challenging for anyone, especially athletes focused on performance, to maintain a real smile during long periods of intense activity, the scientists recommend smiling in 30-second intervals near the end of a race.
