Beta blockers are drugs that block the effects of adrenaline — increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, etc. — and, for that reason, they’re often prescribed after heart attacks.
But they’re also, oddly enough, performance-enhancing drugs — for certain kinds of sport:
Speaking from the Athens Olympics in August, Steven Ungerleider, a sports psychologist and the author of ‘Faust’s Gold,’ said that beta-blocking medications are prohibited for some events, like riflery, in which competitors use the drug to slow the pulse so that they can fire between heartbeats to avoid a jolt.
I first heard about beta-blockers as performance-enhancing drugs for the biathlon, that peculiar mix of cross-country skiing (a cardio-intensive aerobic event) and rifle shooting (which requires calm, steady aim).
Now it turns out that musicians are relying on beta-blockers to tame their stage fright — and more. From Better Playing Through Chemistry:
Indeed, the effect of the drugs does seem magical. Beta blockers don’t merely calm musicians; they actually seem to improve their performances on a technical level. In the late 1970′s, Charles Brantigan, a vascular surgeon in Denver, began researching classical musicians’ use of Inderal. By replicating performance conditions in studies at the Juilliard School and the Eastman School in Rochester, he showed that the drug not only lowered heart rates and blood pressure but also led to performances that musical judges deemed superior to those fueled with a placebo. In 1980, Dr. Brantigan, who plays tuba with the Denver Brass, sent his findings to Kenneth Mirkin, a frustrated Juilliard student who had written to him for help.“I was the kid who had always sat last-chair viola,” said Mr. Mirkin, whose bow bounced from audition nerves. Two years later, he won a spot in the New York Philharmonic, where he has played for 22 years. “I never would have had a career in music without Inderal,” said Mr. Mirkin, who, an hour before his tryout, took 10 milligrams.