When Ohio researchers examined three different activities people do with their smartphones, they found that one of them could help reduce blood pressure while two of them were potentially harmful.
The Kent State University researchers analyzed the effects of using a smartphone while you exercise on a treadmill. They found that listening to music on a phone while you workout helps increase your exercise and can therefore potentially help lower your blood pressure.
But two other common smartphone uses slow exercise – reducing its benefits for your heart.
Their study shows that you shouldn’t talk or text while you’re trying to work up a sweat in the gym. Otherwise your exercise intensity is lowered and the activity won’t be as beneficial for your blood pressure or your fitness.
“Exercising at a lower intensity has been found to reduce the health benefits of exercise and fitness improvements over time,” says researcher Jacob Barkley.
And researcher Michael Rebold adds: “These findings are important because poor cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with an increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors, such as higher cholesterol and blood pressure levels, which could potentially lead to premature mortality.”
The researchers studied 44 people who took part in 30-minute workout sessions on treadmills. During the workouts, the scientists analyzed smartphone use and its relationship to how fast the people walked or jogged on a treadmill, their heart rates and their level of enjoyment.
When treadmillers used their phones to listen to music, their average speed, enjoyment and heart rate climbed. They got a fairly intense workout. In contrast, talking on the phone reduced their speed, although the study results found that talking on the phone might keep people on the treadmill longer.
Texting, however, causes people to work out more slowly and only reach a lower, less beneficial, heart rate.
“It appears as if listening to music and, to a lesser extent, talking may have benefits on the duration and/or frequency of exercise due to their ability to increase enjoyment,” says Andrew Lepp. “However, if an individual’s opportunity for exercise is constrained by time, then it appears best to avoid talking on a smartphone during planned exercise.”
Personally, I’m not a big treadmill fan. One of the reasons is that a treadmill turns nature on its ear. Normally when you run, you move and the ground doesn’t. So we’re built with the right stabilizing muscles for that activity. On a treadmill, you aren’t moving forward but the ground is. It’s disorienting and your muscles don’t know what to do. Music helps soothe you and elicits motion, whereas texting and speaking don’t.
To me, running on a treadmill feels like torture compared to jogging outside which I find to be liberating and natural. But if I do use a treadmill, I listen to music on headphones. That keeps me from thinking too much … especially about the fact that I’m bouncing up and down on a big piece of revolving rubber that’s not going anywhere!
