If you’ve gobbled down a banana before an exam in hopes of improving your marks, you’re not alone.
Bananas have long been rumoured to help calm nerves and boost performance thanks to their potassium.
One woman, who failed lots of driving tests until she tried the pre-test banana trick, swears by it.
Katie Timms, from Plymouth, failed to get a license after seven years, four failed tests, 250-plus hours of lessons, and four instructors.
She claims her big breakthrough came after trying a banana on the big day, which is apparently considered a ‘driving test superfood’.
After the 25-year-old journalist polished off three bananas before her latest test, she passed with flying colours.
She said: ‘However ridiculous it might sound, I am pretty sure that I passed my driving test because I ate a banana, or three.
‘A friend suggested I ate the driving test superfood so I asked my instructor if it was true.
‘He told me it was a frequent suggestion, but that if you didn’t know how to drive, a banana could not help you – obviously.’
The instructor explained that some driving instructors recommend eating a banana to their pupils who struggle with nerves on the day.
He even had a pupil who baked banana bread the morning of her test and passed.
Katie added: ‘That was all I needed. I was holding out all hope that this hopefully magical fruit could be the key to never having to walk into the test centre of doom again.
‘I’m not sure if it was the fact that I ate three bananas, or the fact that I believed that I had the secret recipe to passing the test, but it worked.’
She added: ‘Many of my lovely friends joked that I’d end up in the Guinness World Book of Records for the most failed driving test attempts – which is 39 in the UK, by the way.
‘I had only failed four tests.’
Katie tried several suggested remedies such as wearing two socks but none helped as much as the bananas.
The banana theory has also been recommended by some driving instructors.
Mike’s Driving School, based in Cornwall, suggests: ‘Shortly before your test, eat a banana. It’s well-known among driving instructors as the driving test superfood, for the following reasons – bananas are full of B vitamins, which help calm the nerves.
‘They contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, the “happy hormone” – which will keep your mood upbeat.
‘And they’re also high in potassium.
‘When we are stressed our metabolic rate rises and potassium levels decrease. Eating a high-potassium snack like a banana will help re-balance the levels of this important mineral, normalise your heartbeat and send extra oxygen to the brain.’
The more you know.
MORE: Iceland reintroducing plastic packaging for bananas because card solution failed
MORE: No, doing Veganuary won’t turn you into a woman
source https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/28/learner-driver-says-she-finally-passed-her-driving-test-after-250-hours-of-lessons-because-of-bananas-12136223/
0 Comments