As part of its series on “Your Brain on Computers,” The New York Times Wednesday did a story about why it’s not a good idea to bring an iPod to the gym while you’re running on the treadmill.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/technology/25brain.html?_r=1&ref=business
The story suggests that the brain needs downtime, and listening to music, watching a TV or talking on your cellphone is not downtime. And downtime is necessary, because it allows our minds to process information and remember it, according to The Times.
“You prevent this learning process” if your brain is constantly plugged in, asssistant professor Loren Frank of the department of physiology at the University of California in San Francisco told The Times.
Multitasking, like using your Blackberry, while exercising taxes your brain, according to the experts — including Marc Berman, a neuroscientist at the University of Michigan — quoted in the article.
But please don’t use not being able to listen to your iPod or watch the TV on the elliptical machine as an excuse not to exercise.
Some experts said despite the drawbacks, one of technology’s benefits is that it can motivate people to exercise, The Times reported.