The Magical Feel Good Elixir and Healthy PED    

Early Morning Cardio

 Mankind has always been fascinated by music. From the first Neanderthal beating a drum (or another caveman’s head) to soldiers keeping time marching into battle or as a way to celebrate a blessed event, music is ingrained in our culture.

We have all been moved by music, emotional highs and lows or even just toe tapping because of a song playing on the radio.  Science has proven there are emotional, psychological and physiological changes that occur when we listen to music.  Music stimulates the central nervous system thus releasing Dopamine and Endorphins, chemical neurotransmitters which are like a natural narcotic.  These chemicals have a profound effect on the body and are responsible for; a heightened sense of euphoria, increased blood flow, enhanced immune system, pain relief, stress reduction, and decreased cortisol levels.  Sounds too good to be true, wait it gets even better.

Many of the side effects or changes attributed to music can also be linked to….wait for it….you guessed it exercise.  That is why, in my opinion music and exercise are a match made in heaven.

Combining music and exercise increases the body’s arousal to move, helps you keep time or a rhythm, decreases discomfort, improves motor coordination, reduces stress, postpones the aging process and in instances like a “runners high” can help you kick it up notch into a higher gear. Imagine, music a performance enhancing drug.

Working out to music is not some ingenious new concept I developed. People have been doing it for years.  A friend once told me how on one occasion, when she went to begin a workout her music player died.  She was so distraught by this, that she went to the locker room packed up her things and began to leave.  As she was exiting it occurred to her that there was in fact music playing throughout the facility. Which as you probably realize, is the case at most gyms. However, not all music is created equal and here are a couple of tricks to ensure you’re getting the most benefit from working out with music. Pick songs you like, that will trigger greater production of Dopamine and Endorphin release, can also be a useful tool in staying focused on the task at hand (working out) and eliminating distractions.  Use the shuffle feature on your music player, that teases your brain keeping it guessing and ensures those endorphin and dopamine triggers keep pumping.

I want to hear from you, send me your favorite playlist and share what music motivates you. Have fun with it, I like to create a workout playlist that include songs timed out for the warm-up, cool down and stretch.

Here is a list of 50 of some of my favorite workout songs, for the sake of variety you will notice I only chose one song per artist: