Who said you have to choose between brawn and brain?! Daniel Chao and Brett Wingeier found a way to use your mental strength to build muscle with a project called Halo Neuroscience.
They devised a headset that helps you take advantage of your workout by stimulating the brain. It’s called “neuropriming” since it motivates the brain to form new pathways and strengthen the ones already formed. What happens, in fact, is that the headphones send targeted signals to the brain that, in turn, activate muscle fibers and helps athletes improve their performances. Chao further explains:
“We program the headset to send a constant small current to one primer (i.e. electrode) to another. This flow of current increases the excitability and synchrony of neurons in the motor cortex region situated beneath the primers. This basic mechanism is what allows Halo Sport to modulate motor performance.”
The gadget is neatly concealead in a cool pair of headphones so, unless you tell people what they are actually made for, you will leave the impression you’re just listening to music while training.
Since we’re talking about wearables here, there’s an app that goes with the headphones. It lets users choose the area they want to work on so the energy signals are activated before starting the exercise.
Contrary to what you might think, the sensations are merely tingling… if you can feel them at all: “The range of current used is generally 2.0 mA or less. For comparison, one tiny LED light uses more current than this,”
Multiple studies have shown improvements on athletes that used the Halo headset, so if you’re serious on running marathons you might need to keep an eye on the device when it heats the market. The price? $750.
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