The Perfect Playlist: How Your iPod Can Help You Run Faster and Harder

Sometimes you need an extra push to hit the pavement or treadmill — or to make it through that last grueling mile of training — and the key may simply be loading right songs on your iPod, according to Dr. Coastas Karageorghis, author of Inside Sport Psychology and a leading expert on the psychophysical and ergogenic effects of music at Brunel University, in London.

Music has specific motivational qualities that can make you work harder and faster, even when you feel spent. “Music has the propensity to elevate positive aspects of mood such as vigor and excitement, and reduces negative aspects such as tension and fatigue,” says Karageorghis, who has created custom workout soundtracks for several U.S. athletes competing in the London Olympics. ”It reduces perceived effort, and training to a musical beat can enhance endurance.”

Whether you’re a casual runner or training for a distance event (if the latter, first check out our tips on training from last week), the right playlist can optimize your performance. Here are Karageorghis’ guidelines for putting together a runner’s mix that will get you across the finish line:

(MORE: It’s Not Too Late to Start: Tips for Training for a Distance Run)

Select tracks with energizing beats
Synchronizing your strides with an upbeat song can subconsciously increase your effort during a workout. In a 2009 study, Karageorghis and his colleagues found that matching training with music significantly boosted exercise efficiency and endurance. For the study, the researchers compared 30 participants working out on a treadmill — some listened to high-energy rock and pop tunes and some did not. Compared with those who worked out in silence, those who synchronized their pace to the songs’ tempo improved their endurance by 15%.

Jamming to rhythmic songs also lowers your perceived effort, making you think you’re not working as hard as you really are. Upbeat music increases activity in a part of the brain called the ascending reticular activating system, which “psyches” you up when you’re running.

“The optimal tempo range is 120 to 140 beats per minute,” says Karageorghis. “Our research shows this yields the best psychological outcomes.”

By looking up the beats per minute (bpm) of your go-to songs, you can also find the tempo that matches the heart rate you want to achieve during your workout. For example, if you want your heart rate to get to 130 bpm, choose a song whose tempo progressively increases to that beat, Karageorghis says.

(MORE: 50 Olympic Athletes to Watch)

Stick with what you know
A song’s cultural impact is a key factor in what makes it motivational. “There’s a strong relationship between exposure to a song and you liking it,” says Karageorghis. We tend to favor songs the more often we hear them, so pick a song that’s already in your music library.

Adding songs you associate with moments of perseverance, either from movies or your personal life, can also give you an extra edge. The “Chariots of Fire [theme song] has been used extensively at the London Olympic games,” says Karageorghis. “We’ve made an association with this song and characters doing heroic feats. When you hear it, it conjures images and thoughts of overcoming adversity and striving towards a goal. So you’re conditioned to feel stimulated, inspired and motivated.”

One of TIME’s own staffers, photo editor Liz Ronk, who is training for a half-marathon in October, says this strategy has already worked for her: “Sometimes I hear songs that are played at races that I would normally never listen to, and I’ll download them specifically for my runs just because the song will remind me of that energy.”

Don’t forget to hit shuffle
If you’ve had your playlist on repeat for the last two weeks, you may be desensitized to the songs’ motivational qualities. “This is why radio stations promote songs by playing them repeatedly, but then play it less and less, so listeners don’t develop a negative response to it,” says Karageorghis. “Change your playlist at least every couple of weeks so you don’t listen to the same track over and over.”

(MORE: 5 Common Mistakes You’re Making at the Gym)

Try digitally altering your music to boost motivation
To create playlists for professional athletes, including Great Britain‘s track and field captain, Dai Greene, Karageorghis films them working out at different intensities in order to identify tracks from their music libraries that fit their workouts. Then he tweaks the music to get them working ven harder. “Often I digitally adjust tracks to give a little push of one or two beats per minute,” says Karageorghis. “Differences in tempo of up to four beats per minute are indiscernible to non-musicians. You can easily manipulate your favorite tracks slightly. It’s a particularly good ploy if you want to give yourself a little jolt or get out of a training slump.”

Be choosy about lyrics
“Lyrics can be extremely important, particularly if they carry meaning for the athlete,” says Karageorghis. “You will notice a lot of athletes like your own Michael Phelps use music as an integral part of their pre-event routine. He’s famed for his rap-centric playlist. In Beijing, he listened to the song “I’m Me” by Lil’ Wayne which has strong affirming lyrics as well as being acoustically stimulative.”

Find songs with inspiring lyrics that convey what you want to achieve, like “Pump It” by Black Eyed Peas or “Lose Yourself” by Eminem.

(MORE: Do Sports Products Really Enhance Your Workout? Maybe Not)

If you’re still unsure where to start, below are sample playlists from Karageorghis and from our three TIME staffers who are training for half-marathons in October (stay tuned for ongoing updates about the training this summer):

Dr. Coastas Karageorghis:

“Eye Of The Tiger” (109 BPM), Surivior
“Don’t Stop Me Now” (154 BPM), Queen
“Beat It” (139 BPM), Michael Jackson
“I Like To Move It” (123 BPM), Reel 2 Real feat. The Mad Stuntman
“Push It” (130 BPM), Salt-N-Pepa

Bryan Walsh, TIME International Senior Editor and Healthland contributor:

“Available,” The National
“Don’t Save Us From the Flames,” M83
“Ready to Start,” Arcade Fire
“Dog Days Are Over,” Florence+the Machine
“All of the Lights,” Kanye West

Liz Ronk, LIFE.com Photo Editor:

“40 Day Dream,” Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
“Celebration Day,” Led Zeppelin
“Paper Planes ” M.I.A.
“No Regrets,” Aesop Rock
“I Can’t Turn You Loose,” Otis Redding

Liz Grover, TIME Imaging Desk:

“Is Anybody Out There?” K’NAAN feat. Nelly Furtado
“Lights,” Ellie Goulding
“Wide Awake,” Katy Perry
“Domino,” Jesse J
“Payphone,” Maroon 5

Don’t forget to protect your ears when you’re jamming on your workout. “Use music judiciously and don’t use it too loudly,” says Karageorghis. “High-intensity exercises coupled with high-intensity music above about 85 decibels can cause temporary hearing loss,” he warns. Stay alert and stay safe.

Can Telling the Truth Make You Healthier?

Telling a few white lies may seem harmless, but a new study suggests that you might improve your mental and physical health if you cut down on the fibs you tell.

“We found that the participants could purposefully and dramatically reduce their everyday lies, and that in turn was associated with significantly improved health,” said Anita Kelly, study author and professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame, in a statement. Kelly presented her findings at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Orlando.

For her study, Kelly recruited 110 adults and asked half of them to stop lying for 10 weeks. Lies included big ones and tiny ones — any false statement — but participants were still allowed to do things like omit the truth, keep secrets and dodge questions they didn’t want to answer. The other half of the participants weren’t given any special instructions about lying, except that they had to report the number of lies they told each week. The participants, aged 18 to 71, took a weekly lie detector test and filled out questionnaires about their physical and mental health as well as the quality of their relationships.

(MORE: Is That a Bluff? Looking for Lies in People’s Shifty Eyes)

It turns out that both groups reduced their lying, but those who were specifically told to tell the truth fibbed less — and improved their health more. For example, when participants in the no-lie group told three fewer minor lies a week, they reported four fewer mental-health complaints (such as feeling sad or stressed) and three fewer physical complaints (such as headaches or sore throats). Those in the control group who independently told fewer lies logged fewer health complaints as well, but only by two or three complaints.

On average, Americans tell about 11 lies a week, the authors report. By the end of their 10-week study period, participants in the no-lie group were down to one lie a week. The comparison group was telling more than three lies a week, down from an average of six at the start of the study.

People really took the task to heart, the researchers found: participants found themselves being honest about their daily accomplishments instead of exaggerating them, for example, and they stopped making up excuses for being late or failing to complete a task. They also came up with strategies to avoid lying, such as responding to tough questions with another question in order to distract the other person.

(MORE: Why The Rich Are Less Ethical)

In addition to improving their mental and physical health, the truth-tellers said that their close personal relationships had also improved and that their other social interactions had been easier.

“I think lying can cause a lot of stress for people, contributing to anxiety and even depression,” Dr. Bryan Bruno, acting chairman of the department of psychiatry at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, told HealthDay. “Lying less is not only good for your relationships, but for yourself as an individual. People might recognize the more devastating impact lying can have on relationships, but probably don’t recognize the extent to which it can cause a lot of internal stress.”

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2012/08/06/can-telling-the-truth-make-you-healthier/?iid=hl-main-lede#ixzz22pYZJEE2

It’s Called the Graveyard Shift for a Reason

2012-07-30

People who work irregular schedules or work outside of normal daytime hours are at higher risk of heart attack, stroke, and other coronary events, according to a new study published this week in the British Medical Journal.

This study is not the first to show a link between shift work and heart health, but it is the largest-ever analysis of its kind. It pools together results from 34 previous studies on the topic, with a combined 2 million study participants from across the industrialized world, estimating that shift workers are at 23% greater risk of heart attacks than the other workers, 5% greater risk of ischemic stroke, and 24% greater risk of all coronary events combined (a category that includes heart attack but not stroke). Shift workers also had slightly higher overall death rates than average, but those results were not statistically significant.

Continue reading It’s Called the Graveyard Shift for a Reason →

Yoga Can Help Stroke Survivors Regain Their Balance

You don’t have to be a devoted yogi to reap the benefits of the cobra pose. A new study in chronic stroke survivors shows that practicing yoga can improve balance in patients, giving them more confidence to handle day-to-day activities and potentially reducing disability.

The study, published in the American Heart Association’s journal Stroke, involved 47 stroke survivors, mostly male veterans, who had had their stroke six months prior. The participants were still experiencing balance problems, which can be long-lasting after stroke, arising from injury to central brain structures and impaired senses. Difficulties with balance can lead to a higher risk of falls, further injury and continued disability.

Continue reading Yoga Can Help Stroke Survivors Regain Their Balance →

Early Marriages- a threat rather than child protection

2012-07-17

According to a study using data from 40 Demographic and Health Surveys, early marriages are most prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In Pakistan, the practice of early marriage or child marriage has been significant and has now taken shape of customary practices including that of ‘selling girls’ into marriage i.e. exchange marriages, whereby disputes are settled by exchange of the girls of the family. Even though both the sexes may be suffering from forced marriage in many cases, it is usually the girl who suffers the most.

The reason for this is that early marriage typically results in childbearing at a very young age. This poses great health risks for the girl and not being prepared for such a great responsibility so early in her life, she might go through immense psychological pressure. Although there are many repercussions of early marriage, this article particularly deals with the negative effects it has on the reproductive health of the girl.

These girls are faced with repeated pregnancies and unplanned babies, which results in a high number of abortions taking place. The impact of one abortion on the young girl is so traumatizing that she would rather choose not to have another baby. And to add to all of this, the inaccessibility to maternal and child health services and the issue of poverty in case the girl belongs to a poor family worsens things more for her! Most of the girls belonging to the rural areas are not even aware of contraception so they opt for abortions as the only resort, and when post-abortion complications arise they lack the awareness about the post-abortion care services that they can approach and avail. This sad situation results in numerous maternal deaths and poor health status among women.

In the case of early marriages, girls are not even mature enough to fight for their own rights or to speak for themselves-they feel that their husbands own them and if he wants more children then she has to bear them! However, even the Holy Quran tells us that nothing is more important than the woman’s health. If her health does not allow her to keep giving babies then it is simply not right for her to keep suffering. Some parents feel that if they get their child married at an early age they are protecting them. However, the fact is that this results in lost development opportunities, hinders personal growth and increases the chances of poor health and limits life options.

Restricted mobility of these girls, lack of intimacy with their husbands and lack of resources for counseling causes these young girls many internal problems. Motherhood is viewed by them as their sole purpose in life and they seem to have no life of their own. With her childhood already limited due to early marriage, she is burdened with the responsibility of handling a man whom she doesn’t even know that well and pregnancies that she is unable to handle. She has lost the joy of celebrating marriage which is the dream of every young girl-and all at the expense of her health!

It is high time that we realize the detrimental effects of early marriage on the girls in our society, and try to do our part in spreading awareness about the maternal and child health services, the sexual and reproductive counseling that we can make available to them and save their lives…we need to work towards eradication of the process of wasting productive lives in order for Pakistan to benefit from each individual born on its land-an asset we must save!

The author of the above blog is an ungrad student from Institute Of Business Administration, Karachi
Maham Sundus