If you exercise at the gym for 20-70 minutes at a time you will want to read this. Endurance exercise is meant to make you feel puffed, get your breathing rate up and make you feel hotter, but did you know rinsing your mouth with peppermint can help reduce these symptoms during exercising?
Unfortunately for those who are keen hi intensity training fanatics these benefits are not seen in this type of exercise. If you are a keen steady state cardio enthusiast rinsing your mouth out with peppermint mouthwash may be the key you have been looking for to push through your previous best and achieve better results!
How much do you need? Go for a peppermint or menthol mouth wash with 0.01-0.1% methanol for best results.
How does it work? The menthol or peppermint effects the trigeminal nerve and TRPM8 receptors in your brain which detect cool temperatures or cool-like sensations. Research suggests triggering these receptors can reduce how tired you feel when you push hard at the gym, improve your breathing during endurance and heat tolerance when exercising. The overstimulation of the trigeminal nerve from eating an ice cream or slushy too fast is also the reason you get a brain freeze. Fun additional fact is menthol can also be used to desensitise your mouth before digging into a hot chilli dish as it desensitises your mouth to the active ‘hot compound’ called capsaicin.
Take home message: Not only will your company at the gym thank you for a minty fresh breath, but you may find rinsing your mouth with peppermint mouthwash can help you push through a results plateau!
References
- Best, R., Spears, I., Hurst, P. and Berger, N. (2018) ‘The Development of a Menthol Solution for Use during Sport and Exercise’, Beverages, 4(2), pp. 44–10. doi: 10.3390/beverages4020044.
- Jeffries, O., Goldsmith, M. and Waldron, M. (2018) ‘L-Menthol mouth rinse or ice slurry ingestion during the latter stages of exercise in the heat provide a novel stimulus to enhance performance despite elevation in mean body temperature.’ European Journal of Applied Physiology, 118(11), pp. 2435-2442.doi: 10.1007/s00421-018-3970-4
- Stevens, C. J. and Best, R. (2017) ‘Menthol: a fresh ergogenic aid for athletic performance’, Sports Medicine, 47(6), pp. 1035-1042. doi: 10.1007/s40279-016-0652-4.
