What do Olympian hammer thrower Koji Murofushi,
tennis player Maria Sharapova and table tennis player Ai Fukuhara have
in common?
They’re all going to compete at the London Olympics, which kicks off on July 27, and they all regularly scream or shriek during competition. Why do top athletes scream when they perform, and do their yells and shrieks boost their performances? Some researchers say they do.
Last fall, Sharapova’s loud shrieks gained negative attention after an opponent complained that the noise drowned out the sound of the ball being hit and made it difficult for her to judge its speed.
It’s unclear whether shrieking can effectively rattle opponents. But the positive effects it has on the person who is screaming are well known.
Some of you may have first-hand experience. Have you ever been unable to lift a barbell only to be able to heft it when you screamed? Or when you thought you couldn’t possibly run anymore during the last minutes of a soccer game, have your tired legs ever suddenly gained strength when you screamed?
SCREAMING INCREASES EXCITEMENT, BOOSTS ENERGY
“This is commonly known as the adrenaline rush,” explains Michiya Tanimoto, lecturer of kinesiology at Kinki University. Tanimoto says that screaming can raise athletes' excitement level and enable them to perform at a higher level.
Even when we try to exert our maximum strength, our bodies subconsciously hold back. When we raise our voices, the excitement level elevates, overriding the subconscious restraint over our muscles and enabling people to exert more strength closer to their physical limitations. This is similar to a feature in engines in which the so-called “limiter” puts a restriction on the maximum speed. Releasing this “limiter” will allow engines to exert the maximum speed it is capable of.
One study shows that the more people are tired, the more prominent this becomes. The late University of Tokyo professor Michio Ikai and other researchers released research findings in the 1960s that showed that when the arm is flexed and extended continuously, the arm muscle gradually exerts less strength. But yelling will temporarily boost the strength in the arm. Studies showed that yelling helps exert more power than the initial thrust.
Tanimoto studied the relationship between raising one’s voice and maximum muscular strength during a hand grip test of 10 male students. During a test involving just one hand grip, test subjects exerted 5 percent more strength when they yelled as they squeezed the measuring device compared to when they didn’t. After the 50th consecutive squeeze, maximum power increased by 11 percent when test subjects yelled.
Another research suggests that yelling can trigger a faster response to stimuli. Mie University emeritus professor Hirohisa Wakita (kinesiology) tested 25 male students and asked them to jump when they saw lamp signals flickering every two to five seconds. When students yelled after lamp signals flickered, they were able to respond 0.02 seconds faster on average.
But when they were asked to jump in the opposite direction of one of the two lamp signals that flickered, students made slightly more mistakes when they yelled.
“The yelling increases the excitement level in the body, which may weaken a person’s judgment when they need to make complex moves,” explains Wakita.
2004 Athens Olympics hammer throwing gold medalist Murofushi and other hammer throwers often scream after they release the round metal ball.
“That’s the result of their bodies getting a buzz,” says
Tanimoto. Wakita points out that by raising their voices, athletes “can make movements that stabilize their bodies.”
According to Wakita, when people flex their arms, their biceps typically contract while their triceps stretch and move smoothly. But when a person screams, both muscles contract.
“It creates a state similar to when you step on both the accelerator and the brakes at the same time,” says Wakita. He believes that by screaming right after throwing the ball, the hammer thrower can make his body tighten up and prevent himself from jumping outside the designated circle.
OVERDOING IT CAN CAUSE ADVERSE EFFECTS
Why does Fukuhara scream "Saa!" right after she scores a point? Wakita focuses on the sustainability of the excitement effect caused by screaming. Shogo Yokoyama, a graduate of Wakita’s research group, conducted a test in which he asked participants to flex and stretch their arms 20 times. When the participants yelled once every five times, they tended to exert much more power even at times when they didn’t yell compared with when they didn’t yell at all throughout the test.
“Fukuhara boosts her concentration by screaming, and goes into her next rally in a continued state of excitement,” says Wakita.
Why does screaming boost concentration and strength? Yu Aramaki, associate professor at Chukyo University’s School of Health and Sport Sciences, took an MRI of the brains of two test subjects when they were yelling. He found that when they screamed, activity increased in the brainstem locus coeruleus.
The locus coeruleus is a clump of nerve cells that release noradrenaline, which serve as neurotransmitters among other roles. When a person yells, the locus coeruleus becomes active, releases noradrenaline, and raises the heart rate and blood pressure to promote alertness and concentration. Past research on the effects of yelling has proven these facts.
On the other hand, there are disadvantages to the body experiencing excitement. The premotor cortex, which is important when making complex movements such as asymmetrical movements, does not function well when the body is excited. And releasing too much noradrenaline can trigger fear and uncertainty.
For optimal athletic performance, researchers say that people need appropriate amounts of stimuli and a state of awakening.
“It’s important for people to know what creates the optimal state in one’s body,” advises Aramaki, because screaming also consumes precious energy. Therefore, Tanimoto suggests, “Limit (screaming) to the most important moment of your athletic career.”
They’re all going to compete at the London Olympics, which kicks off on July 27, and they all regularly scream or shriek during competition. Why do top athletes scream when they perform, and do their yells and shrieks boost their performances? Some researchers say they do.
Last fall, Sharapova’s loud shrieks gained negative attention after an opponent complained that the noise drowned out the sound of the ball being hit and made it difficult for her to judge its speed.
It’s unclear whether shrieking can effectively rattle opponents. But the positive effects it has on the person who is screaming are well known.
Some of you may have first-hand experience. Have you ever been unable to lift a barbell only to be able to heft it when you screamed? Or when you thought you couldn’t possibly run anymore during the last minutes of a soccer game, have your tired legs ever suddenly gained strength when you screamed?
SCREAMING INCREASES EXCITEMENT, BOOSTS ENERGY
“This is commonly known as the adrenaline rush,” explains Michiya Tanimoto, lecturer of kinesiology at Kinki University. Tanimoto says that screaming can raise athletes' excitement level and enable them to perform at a higher level.
Even when we try to exert our maximum strength, our bodies subconsciously hold back. When we raise our voices, the excitement level elevates, overriding the subconscious restraint over our muscles and enabling people to exert more strength closer to their physical limitations. This is similar to a feature in engines in which the so-called “limiter” puts a restriction on the maximum speed. Releasing this “limiter” will allow engines to exert the maximum speed it is capable of.
One study shows that the more people are tired, the more prominent this becomes. The late University of Tokyo professor Michio Ikai and other researchers released research findings in the 1960s that showed that when the arm is flexed and extended continuously, the arm muscle gradually exerts less strength. But yelling will temporarily boost the strength in the arm. Studies showed that yelling helps exert more power than the initial thrust.
Tanimoto studied the relationship between raising one’s voice and maximum muscular strength during a hand grip test of 10 male students. During a test involving just one hand grip, test subjects exerted 5 percent more strength when they yelled as they squeezed the measuring device compared to when they didn’t. After the 50th consecutive squeeze, maximum power increased by 11 percent when test subjects yelled.
Another research suggests that yelling can trigger a faster response to stimuli. Mie University emeritus professor Hirohisa Wakita (kinesiology) tested 25 male students and asked them to jump when they saw lamp signals flickering every two to five seconds. When students yelled after lamp signals flickered, they were able to respond 0.02 seconds faster on average.
But when they were asked to jump in the opposite direction of one of the two lamp signals that flickered, students made slightly more mistakes when they yelled.
“The yelling increases the excitement level in the body, which may weaken a person’s judgment when they need to make complex moves,” explains Wakita.
2004 Athens Olympics hammer throwing gold medalist Murofushi and other hammer throwers often scream after they release the round metal ball.
“That’s the result of their bodies getting a buzz,” says
Tanimoto. Wakita points out that by raising their voices, athletes “can make movements that stabilize their bodies.”
According to Wakita, when people flex their arms, their biceps typically contract while their triceps stretch and move smoothly. But when a person screams, both muscles contract.
“It creates a state similar to when you step on both the accelerator and the brakes at the same time,” says Wakita. He believes that by screaming right after throwing the ball, the hammer thrower can make his body tighten up and prevent himself from jumping outside the designated circle.
OVERDOING IT CAN CAUSE ADVERSE EFFECTS
Why does Fukuhara scream "Saa!" right after she scores a point? Wakita focuses on the sustainability of the excitement effect caused by screaming. Shogo Yokoyama, a graduate of Wakita’s research group, conducted a test in which he asked participants to flex and stretch their arms 20 times. When the participants yelled once every five times, they tended to exert much more power even at times when they didn’t yell compared with when they didn’t yell at all throughout the test.
“Fukuhara boosts her concentration by screaming, and goes into her next rally in a continued state of excitement,” says Wakita.
Why does screaming boost concentration and strength? Yu Aramaki, associate professor at Chukyo University’s School of Health and Sport Sciences, took an MRI of the brains of two test subjects when they were yelling. He found that when they screamed, activity increased in the brainstem locus coeruleus.
The locus coeruleus is a clump of nerve cells that release noradrenaline, which serve as neurotransmitters among other roles. When a person yells, the locus coeruleus becomes active, releases noradrenaline, and raises the heart rate and blood pressure to promote alertness and concentration. Past research on the effects of yelling has proven these facts.
On the other hand, there are disadvantages to the body experiencing excitement. The premotor cortex, which is important when making complex movements such as asymmetrical movements, does not function well when the body is excited. And releasing too much noradrenaline can trigger fear and uncertainty.
For optimal athletic performance, researchers say that people need appropriate amounts of stimuli and a state of awakening.
“It’s important for people to know what creates the optimal state in one’s body,” advises Aramaki, because screaming also consumes precious energy. Therefore, Tanimoto suggests, “Limit (screaming) to the most important moment of your athletic career.”
No comments:
Post a Comment