Wear red and improve your performance

Jessica Ennis in
new kit (source usatoday)

The controversy over the new kit, by Stella McCartney designed for Adidas, for the Olympic sporters form the UK triggered me to look into the meaning of colours. The kit lacks the red from the Union Jack.

Research published in Nature in May 2005 shows that: "Given the undoubted role of other factors, such as skill and strength, it is likely that the red advantage will determine the outcome only in relatively symmetric contests. That is, wearing red presumably tips the balance between losing and winning only when other factors are fairly equal. We found that this is indeed the case: only in contests between individuals of similar ability were there significantly more red than blue winners"

bron: http://www.math.ku.dk/~rolf/RedVsBlue.pdf

For more details read this PDF. The explanation given in this article is evolutionary: Red colouration is a sexually selected, testosterone-dependent signal of male quality in a variety of animals. As for human: When angry humans colour slightly red due to increased blood flow in the skin. Whereas fear is associated with increased pallor in similarly threatening situations. Hence, increased redness during aggressive interactions may reflect relative dominance. And as artificial stimuli can trigger natural stimuli: Red clothing can influence the outcome of contest. As a runner each run you do is in competition with yourself so all the circumstances are the same so deciding to wear red clothing can positively influence your performance. Remember this next time you are in front of your wardrobe wondering what to wear during the marathon or any other run.