If you think it is just tradition, think again.
The red effect is not just in the head, it reaches deep into the muscles, generating speed and power.
Our brain’s are wired to respond to red.
If your boss appears before you looking a little red, you may be able to appear cool as a cucumber on the outside, but inside your body will be reacting. His trembling lip and wiggling red ears – give you a heads up, that the situation is potentially dangerous.
Biologically speaking, when mother nature uses red, it’s because she has something DANGEROUS to say.
Responding to red
The sight of red evokes a stress response.
Part A of any stress response is to get physical – the so called, flight and fright response. Whether you’re staying or getting the hell out of there, your muscles need to be supercharged.
Unfortunately, part B of a stress response often also kicks in and this side of the response, is all in your head. The brain scrambles to interpret the danger and put it in context – anxiety levels rise, you can feel distracted, even a little pre-occupied with self. If you’re ruminating, you end up wasting precious resources on head trash.
Seeing red a two-edge sword
So seeing red can
supercharge muscles and mess with your head.
PS. This is all happening under the radar i.e. you’re really not aware of the red effect. It is deeply wired into your head.
So can you use the red effect to your advantage ?
The red advantage
Psychologists from the University of Rochester have demonstrated that muscles work best, when they see red.
The team enlisted the help of 46 undergrad students. The students were required to “squeeze” on a handgrip, with their dominant hand, when a computer issued the command. The computer was able to record just how hard they squeezed each time.
The computer manipulated the instruction to “squeeze” a little, it fiddled with the colour of the writing which appeared on the screen. “Squeeze” appeared in either red, blue or grey.
When the students saw the instruction in red. The squeeze was herculean. Blue and grey squeezes were wimpy and weak.
The red disadvantage
So seeing red, is good when you need a brief burst of strength and speed – good for weightlifting
So should you find ways to see red when you’re writing an exam or doing something else that requires your head, to be in the game ?
Researchers have found red is not a good colour to choose when you need to do skilled motor or mental tasks.
The ins and outs of red
So if you want to keep your head in the game – don’t expose yourself to too much red. Lose the red pencil box, ruler etc.Perception of the color red enhances the force and velocity of motor output. Emotion (2011) 11(2):445-449 Elliot, Andrew J.; Aarts, Henk.
Interested in learning more about the chemistry behind peak performance ?
Subcribe to E-spoons, to get e-mail updates once a month to learn how to keep your body chemistry balanced so you can peform at your best.
NOTE : Privacy & spam policy. Spoonful of Science will not rent, trade or sell the e-mail list to anyone. You can unsubscribe at any time by following the unsubscribe link.
|Use peanuts to power gold medal sports performances||Caffeine the recipe for muscle “achievement” ?||What you think you see is what you get|
The 7 Big Spoons™…. are master switches that turn health on.
|Balance Eicosanoids||Rein in insulin||Dial down stress||Sleep !||Increase Vit D||Culivate microflora||Think champion|
Did you learn something new or do you have a different perspective ? I’d love to hear from you so post me a comment below