Brain Power

 Not to brag, but I am starting to workout again and running has become part of my routine. I now run at least 3-4 miles in about 25-30 minutes every 2 out of 3 days, along with a core workout. It's not a ton, and certainly lacking my old training days while playing college baseball, but its a start for someone who has a shoulder that currently couldn't lift a feather. 

While running, I historically have never listened to music, just let my thoughts carry me along. Me against the run against time against wanting to quit. Music can be distracting and take away from the main focus of what goals you want to achieve.

Well, given the last 3 weeks of my life, I needed to start listening to music as my thoughts are starting to cloud my head. I have been overthinking a lot and running should be an escape, not a torture sentence. So, I downloaded my playlist of all Italian songs (trying to multitask here) and started on my runs. What I noticed is that after my heart rate increased, the music slowed. The words were in slow motion, and last I checked, the playback speed was normal. I started panicking and immediately thought I had a health issue and needed to slow down. This happened again and again, so I finally Googled around to see if I was fully insane now.

To my surprise, this phenomenon is natural and a ton of runners experience this daily. I found a great article from Insider (linked below) that talks about this feeling of "slow down." I think you should give it a read, so I will paraphrase for now: around 140 beats/min, your body is working and prefers a faster tempo than even the fastest of music (trust me, Italians speak FAST so this is a feat in itself). Your body adjusts its focus and the music is slower in relation to your body pumping out blood and oxygen to keep running. It truly feels like someone selected playback speeds on YouTube of 75%. My Italian becomes slower than English, my first language, and I feel like I am juggling 3-4 thoughts at once but still comprehending every detail.

This phenomenon could be used by professional athletes to increase their performance, or how about by musicians themselves to fine tune beats and melodies. What if for language learners, we could use this to make them feel truly "immersed" in their target language? I understand we have prescription drugs that attempt to help with focus but this is natural. If we could get our brains to naturally slow, the possibilities for using this are endless. You truly feel like Spider-Man or Bradley Cooper in Limitless, and that feeling alone is worth every second of panting as you struggle to finish the run.


Links:

1. Insider Running Article: https://www.businessinsider.com/why-music-appears-to-slow-down-when-you-exercise-2017-9

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