Team Mentality Increases Work Threshold

Does feeling part of a team affect the ability to train? A study at the University of Oxford showed that rowers who exercised together experienced a greater release of endorphins and could tolerate twice as much pain as when they trained on their own. (Endorphins interact with opiate receptors in the brain to reduce perception of pain). According to a university press release, the researchers concluded “that acting as a group and in close synchrony seems to ramp up pain thresholds. The underlying endorphin release may be the mechanism that underpins communal-bonding effects that emerge from activities like religious rituals and dancing.”