The active lifestyle that many of us have today often involves either running or walking or jogging as part of our daily regimen. I have found that if I am listening to music when I start my warm up’s , or actually start my walk, that it often helps set the mood, and when some lively music played it makes me kick it into gear even more. I have had an mp3 player since early 2002, and though I always thought the mp3 player was infinitely better than the portable CD player, some people still use both.
I found out quickly that most mp3 player’s stock headphones have many disadvantages:
• The cord is very fragile and can break very easily
• The cord is too short and gets caught when moving
• The earbuds do not fit and fall out frequently (especially when sweating)
• The outside noises, like passing traffic drowns out the music
• The volume has to be set very loud to hear the music clearly
• The cord unplugs too easily from player
• The battery runs out because the player needs to be run at near full volume
When confronted with those problems I began to search for an alternative, and I found the answer, it was Noise Cancelling Headphones. They were at first touted only for airline travelers, but when you think about it, unless you live in the country, and not exposed to as much outside ambient noise, these types are really made for exercising and sports as well. In fact after I bought my pair of Etymotic Research earbuds, I forgot all about the external sounds and was able to focus on my exercise and routine. In fact it made my battery life last so long I was able to be outside even longer. I also found out that the slight headache I felt after cranking the music up was gone, because I was able to keep the volume set at a much lower setting. So from my perspective I will never go back to regular stock headphones ever again.
Think about this, you spend money for the mp3 player, time picking the music you want to listen to, and then even plan out a time of day to do your exercise, then why should you short yourself with a cheap and uncomfortable pair of headphones. I consider it to be an investment that will pay for itself almost immediately and you feel good afterwards as well. I have discovered that there are many name brands now becoming available for the running and sports headphones categories. The prices can vary from about $ 25 to $ 400 depending on the features and brands you want. I think most of the brands would fall into the under $ 70, and still offer real noise cancellation features.
From the experienced runner, to the casual even walker I am convinced that using a quality pair of noise canceling headphones will dramatically help make it even better, it certainly did for me.
Jeffrey Meier offers a variety of Noise Cancelling Headphones and sports headphones at http://www.noisefreeheadphones.com
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