Readers who wish to “launch their brain into its most optimal mindset” to improve a workout may appreciate the advice of Dr. Galina Mindlin, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and director of the Brain Music Therapy Center in New York. That’s because, as Mindlin she tells Deborah Kotz of the Boston Globe, music changes our mindset, with faster music beats inc
reasing the frequency of brain waves from slow, reflective alpha waves to energized, alert beta waves. Mindlin says we can shift our mind to a desired state–Colorado?- with the right music. Tired and need to rev up? Mindlin suggests tunes with faster beats. Anxious before a big presentation? Music with a slower beat can slow brain waves to bring you to a maximum state of alertness. Kotz reports that Mindlin recommends choosing songs based on their beats per minute, or BPM, and putting them on separate playlists. Songs under 100 BPM are good for relaxing you, and you might want to have a playlist with only slow-beat songs at night. But wait? How does one find a song’s BPM? The easiest route to BPM is Google: just Google a song’s title and BPM. The geekier route involves this software tool. Wait, there’s more: The Globe provides its readers’ ultimate workout playlist here.
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