Inhalers offer a month's worth of pure-peppermint whiffs. Just unscrew the cap, hold the container to your nose and breathe in.

The fitness market is only too happy to help. There are electronic gadgets to measure steps and heart rate, virtual-reality tricks to get your mind off the chore. Internet services send periodic e-mails to monitor progress or scold evidence of slacking. Companies sell creams and patches claiming to help you do everything from lose weight to grow hair — even while you sleep. Woo-hoo! (OK, so maybe I'm missing the point now.)

Being a middle-aged man with MS, fatigue is a huge issue for me, but lacking energy and commitment is an equal-opportunity excuse. Athletes will take all kinds of "enhancers," some illegal and some that have been blamed for their deaths.

Me? I decided to sniff peppermint. All-natural peppermint that is packed in a little Chapstick-style tube about the size of your thumb. The idea behind this pocket-rocket known as the Peak Performance Sports Inhaler is that sniffing just before or during — in the case of, say, a distance race — can provide some sort of chemical or psychological aid. It's marketed by a pleasant Seattle couple, and I sure could use a little boost from time to time, so I decided to give it my own imprecise survey. First, some background.

The tiny company with the worldly name of HealthCare International markets the inhaler for $2.99 per stick (which lasts about a month). Glenn and Heather Safadago started the company on the basis of findings by a physiological psychologist from Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia. After hearing that air-traffic controllers had been given peppermint to see if it improved their alertness, Dr. Bryan Raudenbush put his test subjects on treadmills and various strength, speed and skill drills. Once he got a baseline, he introduced various smells, such as jasmine, peppermint and "dirty socks." The bottom line was that tests done in conjunction with peppermint vapors resulted in improved strength and speed scores, but not in "skill" tasks like shooting free throws. That prompted him to start researching the effects of jasmine on sleep. All of this, of course, is being done with the knowledge that aromatherapy is both ancient and hot but lacking in scientific precision.

A blurb about the study appeared in a women's fitness magazine. Heather, a runner, saw it, showed her husband and the two began searching for more information. Last April, they called Raudenbush and asked who was marketing the product. He replied, "What product?" The Safadagos entered into a seven-year marketing agreement and put the Peak Performance Sports Inhaler on the market last November. Neither the company nor the scientist can tell exactly how it works, whether physically or as a psychological boost, but they say it seems to work somehow.

Some runners and cyclists have used peppermint for years, smudging some on their shirt collars or cap bills. And the olfactory system does enjoy a beeline to the nervous system. Armed with this information, I grabbed some of the sticks and doled them out to friends, associates, co-workers and, of course, my wife. Most of my co-workers let me down.

But a fellow writer said it made her sneeze. Since she sneezes 10 times a day without using the inhaler, I found this inconclusive. Two co-workers loved it a little too much. A physical therapist, an actual professional, uses it to "wake up" before his morning bicycle commute. My wife faithfully sniffs before each 6:30 a.m. workout. I've been taking a whiff mid-afternoon at my desk, partly to beat blahs and to stave off coffee addiction. A few times, I overdid it and numbed the back of my throat.

Phil Kochik, a salesman at Sound Sports, said sales started out hot but have tailed off recently. Although the product is cheap, it might last too long from a marketer's perspective. "It sounds kinda gimmicky to some people, but I like it and use it. It makes you feel peppy and it's got a clean smell, like Listerine for the nose."

Yeah, that's what I was thinking . . . Listerine for the nose. So does it work? My survey, alas, didn't help much, but I'll take peppermint over dirty socks any day.

Richard Seven is a Pacific Northwest magazine staff reporter. Harley Soltes is a Seattle Times staff photographer.

More On Fitness columns