Can Music Help You Exercise?

Okay, guys, I have never heard of this thing before, but it's a dynamometer, or dynamometer, or dynamometer. But it's used to measure your hand strength. I squeeze down. Okay, it says 59 pounds. Is that good? I'm John Legend, Chief Music Officer at Headspace, And I'm hosting a new series about the different ways that music can improve our lives. (orchestral music begins) (upbeat music begins) The philosopher, Kant, called music a "quickening art" because it can bring things to life. It can make a memory, it can change your mood, it has more power to stimulate the brain than anything else. But what about the body? When listening to music, people run farther, bike longer, swim faster, often without realizing it. And by how much? What's the secret sauce? I wanna know if we can quantify it and push it to the limits. Here to help is neuroscientist, Dr. Yewande Pearse. Hello! Hi, John! Hello! What do we have here? This is a manpower treadmill. Oh, wow! Okay, well in this demonstration, I'm going to be recording your heart rate, Okay. and the calories that you burn, while you're running to about seven miles per hour. There are gonna be three of these runs. Okay. I'm not gonna tell you what it's gonna change between the runs. Okay. Okay, whenever you're ready. Yeah. I'll let you know when to stop. (treadmill sounds) Okay, that's good. Let's stop there. Okay. So, you can slow down. Okay, so now you can recover. Okay. So, while you were running on the treadmills, would you say that that was nine to 11, very light, 11 to 12, light, 13, 14, somewhat hard. I'll, say 13. You'll say 13? It was somewhat hard? Okay. Yeah, 'cause I feel my breath right now. So, this is the second condition, John. So, now you've got the hang of the treadmill. Okay. I'm gonna play some music. Okay. (upbeat music begins) Yeah, I like the music. Yeah, feels good? It makes you feel like you're in a movie. (Dr. Pearse laughs) That's okay, you can stop now. Okay. Okay, so after that run, do you feel anything has changed on the scale? Uh, it was still like somewhat hard. That was still somewhat hard. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it was more fun this time with the music. One more time, same thing. Okay. Gonna play some music not telling you anything about the music. Okay. And you're gonna try and run to seven miles per hour for about two minutes, Okay. and I'll tell you when to stop. Okay. Okay. Whenever you're ready. Let's go! (upbeat music continues) Alright, John, (upbeat music continues) you can stop. Okay. How are you feeling? I feel good. Alright, we're going to sit down and unpack that all, and work out how music can impact fitness. Well, cool. I can't wait to find out. (Dr. Pearse giggles) So, there were three conditions, and I said I wasn't going to give you the details of the three conditions before....