My worst fear as a runner isn’t injuries, aching knees or even overenthusiastic run clubs. It’s losing power in your bluetooth headphones, five minutes into a long Sunday run.
Well sports fans, this is a fear I just conquered.
That’s right, a whole Sunday run spent alone with nothing but traffic noise and my own thoughts for company.
And it was glorious. Maybe I’m a convert. “Rawdogging”, as the kids say.
Either way, it inspired me to look at the science behind what we listen to whilst running. Does drum and bass keep your pace up, or send your heart rate into overdrive? Will the suspense of an Agatha Christie audiobook prove too much? How does jazz affect my gait?
You get the idea…
The sound of silence
Running without music has had a bit of a glow-up lately, thanks to the rise of “mindful running.” No playlists. No chat. Just breath, rhythm, and trainers on tarmac. Studies show that silence heightens something called associative focus.
This is your ability to tune into muscles, posture, and effort. You essentially become your own feedback loop, often resulting in smoother form, steadier breathing and better pacing.
It won’t make the run easier, but it’ll make you smarter about how you run.
White noise
If I heard white noise coming out of a friend’s headphones mid-run, I’d probably get them put on some sort of government watch list. But some psychologists think there’s something to it.
White noise is like mental grease. It doesn’t inspire you like music, but it does stabilise your rhythm. This is called stochastic resonance - where the right level of background noise helps your brain filter distraction and sustain focus.
It’s particularly handy during long, steady runs where mental drift is the enemy. A steady hum keeps the mind calm and stops you spending energy breaking down the kms ahead.
A good chinwag
If - like me - you’ve ever zoned out to a long podcast and looked up realising you’re 6km in, that’s dissociative focus at work. It’s when your attention drifts outward, away from physical strain. Studies show that spoken content reduces perceived exertion during low to moderate-intensity exercise. Handy.
But the trade-off is cognitive load. Our tiny brains can only juggle so much. Push the pace, and you’ll lose track of which century The Rest is History is discussing today.
So use podcasts as mental company on recovery or easy runs, not race-day performance hacks.
Rave running
Music between 160–180 BPM — drum and bass, hip hop, Darude - Sandstorm — matches the average efficient running cadence almost perfectly. Neuroscientists found that runners subconsciously sync steps to rhythm through sensorimotor entrainment, a fancy way of saying your brain joins the beat.
This results in more consistent foot strikes, reduced perception of fatigue, and increased distance before you hit “the wall”. One study showed a 15% endurance boost when runners listened to preferred high-tempo music. Your body literally works harder without noticing. Safe to say the science likes this option.
Lo-fi beats
And then there’s lo-fi. The quiet overachiever of the audio world. Its slower, lyric-free patterns reduce stress hormones and improve mood, according to recent studies on focus and productivity.
In running, that translates to smoother, calmer effort. This is the one for after-work wind down runs or recovery runs.
The bottom line
Silence connects you to your body.
White noise builds focus (but, in my eyes, makes you unhinged).
Podcasts numb the distance.
Tempo music gets you going faster, longer.
Lo-fi keeps you balanced.
Every run has a mood.
Every sound has a science.
Every runner has a favourite last km sprint tune. And this is mine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpUYjpKg9KY
So next time you lace up, take a moment to match the sounds in your ears to what you want from your feet.