Bananas and Performance Anxiety: What Does the Research Say?
We’ve all heard about bananas as a magical cure all for performance anxiety, whether from teachers, colleagues, or the internet, where one person even claimed it was a natural Beta Blocker. When I polled followers on instagram, 77% said that they ate bananas before auditions or performances. When I looked online, one blog even claimed that bananas worked to prevent adrenaline from binding to Beta receptors in the body (just as a beta blocker does), and for that, I wanted to see some data.
My search took me to a few less than fruitful (sorry) studies, none of which focused on musicians, performers, performance anxiety, or anything specific.
The rodents in this study were given banana peel and banana fruit and then tested over subsequent days in light dark tests, maze tests, and swimming The animals consuming banana performed better than the control group in all tests, suggesting that banana may have a positive effect on memory and anti-anxiety.
However…we are not rodents and our own experiences as performers may not mimic this experiment accurately. We additionally are only consuming banana fruit and not the peel, and we are only consuming it immediately before performing. This experiment involved banana consumption and testing over a long period of time, so it might be more interesting for musicians to see how a week or more of banana consumption affects them.
I wanted to look at a general survey of banana nutrition and benefits and see what the research says on bananas in general, and whether there was any mention of anti-anxiety benefits in general. The abstract mentioned banana as benefiting depression and possibly assisting in Parkinson’s Disease as a dopamine agonist (blocking dopamine) but the research concluded with this: “banana fruit pulp and peel could be of interest as raw materials riches in beneficial bioactive compounds.”
Basically, that says, bananas are good for you and may be of interest, which is not terribly helpful in terms of any actually specifics related to how bananas could help you.
Study #3: Effect of Banana Consumption and Walking Exercise on Anxiety in Female Adolescents This was the most relevant study that I found, testing a group of female adolescents in banana consumption, walking, banana consumption and walking, and then doing nothing. The females that ate bananas, walked, and ate bananas and walked (probably not at the same time) all showed notable benefits. (For those more statistically inclined, the P values (calculated probability) were 0.001-0.003, suggesting statistical significance. ) Bananas did indeed benefit the females, but this was over a long period of time.
Takeaways? The banana as “natural beta blocker” doesn’t check out in terms of the research, however if you find it beneficial, that’s great! The placebo effect may explain why you find benefit from bananas, even if their chemical properties aren’t proven. Conversely, if they’re not your thing, you’re not necessarily missing out.