Music is a performance-enhancement drug

“Music is part of being human,” Oliver Sacks wrote in Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain.

Music can help you focus, meditate, and treat Alzheimers and Parkinson’s. Music is so powerful it stimulates the various parts of the brain at once.

“When the brain is listening to music, it lights up like a Christmas tree,” Karageorghis said. “It’s an ideal stimuli because it reaches [parts of the brain] that can’t easily be reached.”

According to Costas Karageorghis’ new book, music also improves athletic performance — it’s just as effective as a performance-enhancement drug. Music can also calm athletes down and get them out of their own head.

“Music is there to calm me down or pump me up. It fills my brain and blocks any unnecessary thoughts.” — Katie Zaferes, Triathlon

For others like Michael Phelps, music assists in helping visualize the completion and get into the zone.

Karageorghis even created workout playlists that match heart rates so you can build up to a higher bpm (beats per minute) as you intensify your workout.

Music is a hell of a drug, potentially intoxicating. Did I mention it is also ideal for pure enjoyment? Don’t forget to sing along and dance. Here’s what President Obama is listening to get started.