What's Making Me Happy This Week: Not the Weather

The calendar says otherwise, but the morning thermometer reading of 9 degrees proves that spring has not arrived in Boston. On the bright side, streets clogged with snow and effectively one-way are once again functionally two-way, thanks to a couple of days’ worth of thawing sometime last week.

I’m also trying to take some pride in being a veteran of Boston’s snowiest winter on record (if we had to put up with the snow, at least we got the bragging rights to go with it!), but these positives are only getting me so far. I’ve had to kick my happiness efforts up a notch lately.

This week I’m finding it in music -- not Katy Perry or Gym Class Heroes this time -- Gabriel Faure’s Requiem. You know, the one that debuted on the charts at number 1 in 1890.

The director polled the church choir about preparing this piece last fall. I felt too stupid to ask, “What’s a Foray Requiem?” so I went along with the much more musically advanced choir members in endorsing the idea. Then I found out it’s a Catholic mass for the dead. In Latin, with a sprinkling of Greek. And it’s 35 minutes long.

And it may be one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard. We learned it and performed it last Sunday, and it was amazing. Even now phrases from the music are running through my head. From a happiness standpoint, it fired on a bunch of different cylinders: the social experience of singing with the choir, the sense of achievement from mastering Latin pronunciation, and the sense of awe from the deeply worshipful nature of the music.

It turns out that music we like prompts our brains to release dopamine, the chemical associated with reward for biologically necessary behavior like eating and having sex. And some unnecessary behavior, like dopamine-hijacking drugs.

Well, duh. People listen to music because they like it. But there’s more to it than that. In some circumstances music boosts the immune system, reduces stress, shortens recovery time after surgery, and reduces the perception of pain. Music classes have been shown to reduce anxiety, loneliness, and depression. If that’s not enough, music can also improve efficiency of oxygen use, boost endurance, and help exercisers feel more positive during workouts -- even the really grueling ones.

If the Faure Requiem is not up your alley, it’s OK. In fact, for most of music’s benefits, the more you like it the better. For the exercise benefits, pick one that matches the tempo of your workout (is this why A-ha’s “Take On Me” ran through my head every time I ran a cross-country race in high school?). An up tempo in a major key tends to be more happiness-promoting than slow music in a minor key, but other than that it’s up to you.

What's making you happy this week?

What's Making Me Sweaty This Week: YouTube Workout Videos

Even though comfort food really does make me happy, baking is out and YouTube workout videos are in.

I've now been doing these videos for about eight weeks, trying Livestrong’s STRONGER series, Fitness Blender, and T-25.

The Livestrong series might be my favorite. It’s short and intense, and it doesn’t hurt that it’s led by a good-looking soccer player with a British accent. Fitness Blender, a slightly bland husband and wife team, is slower paced and takes much longer. T-25 is insanely intense. At one point on the video, one of the incredibly fit back-up dancers actually had to stop and take a break. (He’ll never work in this business again.) If he can’t do the workout, how can I?

I'm now bored with/traumatized by all of these and getting a little desperate. There is overwhelming evidence that exercise makes people happier, though, and is less fattening than comfort food, so I can’t give up.

The other day I found a list of best free workout videos on YouTube and picked Pump It Up The Ultimate Dance Workout, complete with ‘80s music, retro high-cut leotards, coordinating leg warmers, and a trainer who I suspect was chosen because she looks like Olivia Newton John in "Xanadu." And has an Australian accent. The requisite Cher look-alike was in the second row.

Important features of this video included aggressive hip thrusting, hair extensions, heavy make-up, and sultry looks. There was quite a bit of head tossing as well, which I mostly skipped. It's sexy, but what if I strain my neck?

Nearly all workout videos’ primary purpose is in demonstrating the value of a second take. Did the trainer actually say “Fasten it up!” instead of “Faster”?

Jillian Michaels was another video on the best-of list, and I agree that it’s a good workout. But she scares me a little. I consider that a negative; maybe you're in the market for a drill sergeant as a trainer. On the plus side, her tights were so low-rise that I kept expecting a wardrobe malfunction. No such luck.

Yesterday I was looking for something else, but the YouTube search function on my TV was a little slow and unwieldy, so when I landed on Billy Blanks Cardio Tae Bo I went with it. The goal of this workout apparently was to count to 8. I didn’t think the back-up dancers could keep it up the entire workout but indeed they did. Especially the one wearing the pirate pants (are those actually stylishly torn on the bottom?). I know what she's thinking: "Do you think anyone wants a roundhouse kick to the face while I’m wearing these bad boys?"

She seemed to be the head cheerleader, counting to 8 with singular enthusiasm and even occasionally throwing in a “Hey hey!” And once or twice, even an inexplicable, “Ow! Ow!”

Despite her encouragement, I could not make myself do an 8-count 57,000 times. Was that part of the workout? Was I deprived of some calorie burning potential? I think I can live with that.

All of these workout videos are helping -- I’m back down a couple of pounds. And my experimenting was a good break from Livestrong, but now I'm going back to my British soccer player.

But is this making me happy? The jury is still out on that. It is, however, making me sweaty.

What’s making you sweaty this week?