JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Gate River Run is Saturday, and News4Jax is getting you ready for the big event.
We all know water fuels the body, but what about the mind?
A lot of runners won't even think about lacing up their shoes without a pair of headphones and a playlist.
It turns out -- some songs can actually boost your performance, and there is some science behind this.A study in the "Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport" found up-tempo music can give athletes a mental boost during physical exertion.
Specifically, songs with more than 120 beats per minute made a difference.
They concluded Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger," best known as the theme song for Rocky III, has strong motivational qualities.Researchers at Brunel University in London played a wide variety of music for elite triathletes as they ran on a treadmill.
They found listening to songs with high beats per minute boosted performance up to 15%. Time to exhaustion was also more than 18% longer.Based on this, Taylor Swift's “Shake it off” -- which has 160 beats per minute -- could also give runners a boost.
Spotify has its own playlist of songs with high BPMs that is aimed at runners. It includes Post Malone’s “Sunflower,” Kelly Clarkson’s “Behind These Hazel Eyes” and Sia’s “Cheap Thrills.
We wanted to know what songs fuel you, so we asked on Facebook. A few of our viewer’s picks:
“I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor (Shane)“Rollin'” by Limp Bizkit (Danny)Anything by The Runaways (Virginia) To join the conversation, head to our News4Jax Facebook page, and Saturday, don’t forget your head phones.