Something You Should Know - SYSK Choice: Is "Gut Instinct" A Real Thing? & The Fascinating Ways Sound Affects You

Episode Date: October 12, 2019

Can people actually become addicted to cheese? This episode begins with some surprising information how why people love cheese so much. I’m sure you have, at some point in your life, relied on your “gut instinct.” You made a decision that just felt right at that moment. And while that may be fine for small decisions – is it really smart to use your gut to make the big decisions? After all – what exactly is your gut? Well, Mary Ellen O’Toole, author of Dangerous Instincts (https://amzn.to/2OAbkE5), is a former FBI profiler who has seen plenty of people get in trouble because the “went with their gut.” If you want to keep you and your family safe – you should hear what she has to say. Sound is all around you. So what is it doing to your health? Probably more than you realize. My guest, Alex Doman is co-author of Healing at the Speed of Sound (https://amzn.to/318yyUq) and he will explain what impact sound and noise have on you and how to protect yourself.  And the next time your “Check Engine” light comes on, you may not want to rush up to your mechanic as a first course of action. You can easily figure out what’s wrong yourself. I’ll explain how to do it – and why it is such a good idea that can save you time, money and a lot of hassle. This Week's Sponsors --Airbnb.To learn more about being an Airbnb host visitwww.Airbnb.com/host Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a listener to Something You Should Know, I can only assume that you are someone who likes to learn about new and interesting things and bring more knowledge to work for you in your everyday life. I mean, that's kind of what Something You Should Know was all about. And so I want to invite you to listen to another podcast called TED Talks Daily. Now, you know about TED Talks, right? Many of the guests on Something You Should Know have done TED Talks. Well, you see, TED Talks Daily is a podcast that brings you a new TED Talk every weekday in less than 15 minutes. Join host Elise Hu.

She goes beyond the headlines so you can hear about the big ideas shaping our future. Learn about things like sustainable fashion, embracing your entrepreneurial spirit, the future of robotics, and so much more. Like I said, if you like this podcast, Something You Should Know, I'm pretty sure you're going to like TED Talks Daily. And you get TED Talks Daily wherever you get your podcasts. Today on Something You Should Know, could you be addicted to cheese? Some people apparently are, and you could be one of them. Plus, using your gut instinct to make big life decisions. Is it a good idea?

Some people believe that they really are able to rely on their gut and buy the right house, marry the right mate, make the right financial decision. But that's very dangerous to rely on something so magical. And what about all the sound and noise you hear all day, every day? What's it doing to you? Noise, according to a World Health Report, noise is implicated as the second largest environmental health concern, second only to air pollution as an environmental cause of ill health. And what you should do the next time your check engine light comes on that'll save you a lot of time, money, and trouble. All this today on Something You Should Know. Since I host a podcast, it's pretty common for me to be asked to recommend a podcast. And I tell people, if you like something you should know, you're going to like The Jordan Harbinger Show.

Every episode is a conversation with a fascinating guest. Of course, a lot of podcasts are conversations with guests, but Jordan does it better than most. Recently, he had a fascinating conversation with a British woman who was recruited and radicalized by ISIS and went to prison for three years. She now works to raise awareness on this issue. It's a great conversation. And he spoke with Dr. Sarah Hill about how taking birth control not only prevents pregnancy, it can influence a woman's partner preferences, career choices, and overall behavior due to the hormonal changes it causes. Apple named The Jordan Harbinger Show one of the best podcasts a few years back,

and in a nutshell, the show is aimed at making you a better, more informed critical thinker. Check out The Jordan Harbinger Show. There's so much for you in this podcast. The Jordan Harbinger Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Something you should know. Fascinating intel. The world's top experts. And practical advice you can use in your life.

Today, Something You Should Know with Mike Carruthers. Hi, welcome to Something You Should Know. It's a weekend edition, and we start today talking about cheese, of all things. Now, if you were to ask a vegan, what is the one animal product that they miss the most? Very often, they will say cheese. And I can attest to this because I once did a 13-day or 14-day vegan thing, and at the end of those two weeks, cheese was really high on my list of foods I wanted to eat. So what is it about cheese that makes us love it so much?

Well, there's a chemical in cheese called casein. I think that's how you pronounce it. C-A-S-E-I-N, casein. Researchers at the University of Michigan report that casein acts like a drug. In fact, some refer to it as dairy crack. And all dairy foods have casein in it, but because it takes 10 pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese, it's more concentrated in cheese. The fact is that we each eat about 35 pounds of cheese per year, which is three times more than people did in 1970. So it gives some credence to the idea that cheese can be addictive

and act like a drug in some people. Cheese seems to trigger parts of the brain in a similar way to drugs. This is part of growing research that shows that some foods really are addictive, and in fact pizza is considered one of the most addictive foods, and it may be that the cheese on top of that pizza is a big reason why. And that is something you should know. How many times have you gone with your gut? You used your gut instinct to make a decision.

But what is your gut instinct? Is it intuition? And what is intuition? All these things are hard to define. They're hard to identify. They're certainly hard to locate in the human body. They may, in fact, not even be real. And yet we use our gut or our intuition or our instinct or whatever you want to call it to make a lot of decisions. I know I've relied on my gut, and sometimes my gut was right, and sometimes my gut was wrong, which may just be the law of averages at play there.

Anyway, Mary Ellen O'Toole is a former FBI profiler, and she is author of the book Dangerous Instincts, and she joins us now. So Mary Ellen, a lot of people say that they've used their gut to make a decision with the rationale that it just felt right, it seemed like it was meant to be. Or maybe something similar like, well, I just connected with him. We seem to be soulmates. It's this reliance on these mystical concepts that really cannot be described. They cannot even be located. You can't refine your gut.

You can't improve your gut. And when we rely on some mystical concept like that to make life-changing decisions, you can see where we can easily be hurt, we can easily be conned, or we can easily see one of our loved ones have the same result. Do you know if there's any evidence that gut feelings are real and ever did serve a purpose and now they don't, or is it just wishful thinking? Or what are these gut feelings objectively if we look at them? I've always referred to these gut feelings,

gut instincts as being kind of magical thinking. Some people believe that they really are able to rely on their gut and buy the right house, marry the right mate, make the right financial decision, but they can't really discuss with you how their gut got so much better than my gut. So again, it's magical thinking and self-belief, and it's influenced certainly by things people read and see on television. Are they 100% useless, or are they a good place to start, or do you just throw them out altogether, or what? Here's what I would say about that. If people rely solely and completely on their gut, they're relying on something that really is more magical than anything. And if it comes to making a decision that could impact your life one, two, ten, twenty years down the road,

that's very dangerous to rely on something so magical. If you want to rely on your gut for a simple, uncomplicated decision, that's one thing. But not if it could change your life. You're really running into some potential problems if you do that. And I personally have seen it over and over again as an FBI agent of 28 years. How so? Explain that. Sure. I've seen, I worked in the Behavioral Analysis Unit, the BAU, for more than half of my career.

And so the kind of work I did was to analyze violent crimes. And in doing that, you really spend a lot of time with victims and victims' families, and you hear repeatedly, but I opened the door because he seemed safe. He looked so normal. You know, my gut instinct said there wasn't anything wrong with him. I let my children go over to the house for a sleepover because they seemed so nice. I mean, you know, we all go to the same church and school, so my sense was he was fine. And those are all decisions that people make on a very superficial level. I looked at him, he seemed normal. My gut told me to do it. That's magical thinking. They don't rely on a more realistic way of assessing a situation or assessing a person they're about to turn themselves or their children over to.

But isn't there a danger, though, of, by definition, your work, you're always dealing with where the gut went wrong. If the gut went right, the FBI and the police don't get involved. What about all the times when you open the door to that guy and nothing happens? Sure. And people are absolutely going to say that. But here's what I would say to those people. If you are a good decision maker, if you go back in your life, go back and take a look at at maybe the five most important decisions you've made in the last year, whether it's buy a house, date a person, allow your child to go somewhere. Look at the last five, ten decisions you've made in the last year and see how well they were made. See what the consequences were and see if the results are what you want them to be.

And it's my sense, my experience with these kinds of really kind of life-changing decisions, most people are going to say, I wish I would not have done at least two or three of those things out of the five. I actually encourage people to go back and see how good they are at assessing other people and making decisions. And if there's room for improvement, I think that's where dangerous instincts really comes into play. But what about if my son wants to go over to his friend's house, it seems unlikely and unrealistic for me to say, wait, let me call the private investigator first and have the whole family checked out before I let you do that. Yeah, that's not something that you're going to do.

And that next-door neighbor may be someone that you know quite well because you've spent time with that family. However, if that next-door neighbor is not someone that you know well because you haven't had the time or perhaps they just moved in or you've just moved in, what do you know about what's inside that home that you are about to send your 7-year-old son into? Are there weapons around? Are there drugs and alcohol? Who else has access to that home that you're not aware of? Are there dangerous animals in the home?

You're sending your son into an unknown world. In order to understand that world, it's going to take getting to know the family, maybe over a certain period of time, so you get a better sense of what those parents are like and what their personal habits are inside their home so you know the environment to which your son is about headed into. That's important, and it doesn't take a lot of time. And it may be a couple of questions over time, asking them to your home,

asking to sit down in their home and have a cup of coffee. But isn't it worth it if you prevent your son from going into a home where he could be hurt or even damaged forever? Former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole is my guest. She's author of the book, Dangerous Instincts. Hi, I'm Jennifer, a founder of the Go Kid Go Network. At Go Kid Go, putting kids first is at the heart of every show that we produce. That's why we're so excited to introduce a brand new show to our network called The Search for the Silver Lining, a fantasy adventure series about a spirited young girl named Isla

who time travels to the mythical land of Camelot. Look for The Search for the Silver Lining on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. People who listen to Something You Should Know are curious about the world, looking to hear new ideas and perspectives. So I want to tell you about a podcast that is full of new ideas and perspectives, and one I've started listening to called Intelligence Squared. It's the podcast where great minds meet. Listen in for some great talks on science, tech, politics, creativity, wellness, and a lot more.

A couple of recent examples, Mustafa Suleiman, the CEO of Microsoft AI, discussing the future of technology. That's pretty cool. And writer, podcaster, and filmmaker John Ronson, discussing the rise of conspiracies and culture wars. Intelligence Squared is the kind of podcast that gets you thinking a little more openly about the important conversations going on today. Being curious, you're probably just the type of person Intelligence Squared is meant for. Check out Intelligence Squared wherever you get your podcasts.

So, Mary Ellen, one of my concerns about all of this is this overemphasis, it seems, on stranger danger. Everyone's a potential threat until you know better. It wasn't too many generations ago when, you know, if a kid from school asked you to come over, you would just go over. I mean, as a kid from school, what harm could there be? And now it's, well, we don't know the Johnsons very well, and it just seems like things are different today. You know, that's a really good question about what we are living with today. Did it exist in the 50s and the 60s? And it did exist back then, but we did not have 24-7 cable news,

so we were not aware of it. Does it exist more today? There are some people that say that it does. And is it paranoia? I definitely would say it's concern because there are things that people can do, real live tested techniques that people can use to give them more power over the decisions they make about themselves and about their families to size somebody up and to size up a situation and prevent things from happening. They're going to happen anyway. And actually, I did hear that on the news the other day. Somebody just said, well, things are going to happen anyway. That's true.

They are going to happen. Do you want to be a victim or do you want to prevent it? Well, what are some of those? I remember seeing it was either I read it in the book or in the press material about, you know, you hire a cleaning lady. Do you give her a key or don't you? Well, what am I going to do? I'm not going to have her investigated. So how do I size her up to decide does she get a key or doesn't she get a key?

Sure. And it may not be a decision to give her a key, the cleaning lady, or not a key immediately. But one of the most important things is the assessment of that person when you first talk to them. And if you go back and look at people that maybe you or people in your audience have interviewed, whether it's a cleaning lady or a plumber or whatever, the questions usually are, who have you worked for before? What are your hours?

How much do you charge? Maybe, do you ever have anybody worked for before? What are your hours? How much do you charge? Maybe, do you ever have anybody substitute for you? And people can basically tell you anything. And are you really assessing their answers? I mean, really? Or are you just hearing what they say back to you? And too often, people will simply ask the routine questions, and they won't follow up with what's really important.

In fact, one of the questions that I ask of the people that come into my home, and it's amazing when you get the responses, I ask people if they have ever gone to jail or to prison. Now, you may think that I can't ask that question. Well, yes, you can, and you watch for the answer. It does not mean that you don't hire somebody because they've spent time in jail or prison, but you do want to know why, and you want to see their response. If they avoid the question, are they not answering you?

Are they giving you other information that you really didn't ask for? So it's understanding how to do an interview, how to pose your questions, and then how to evaluate the information and not do the cursory, who was the person you not do the cursory, who was the person you worked for the last time. And then whether or not you decide to take it a step further and give them a key may not come for a while. It may come once you're comfortable that that person has proven to you that they've been trustworthy for a period of time. So it's not necessarily an immediate decision. So besides, have you been to prison? What other kinds of questions can you ask people

maybe leading up to that? I mean, I imagine that's maybe not the best first question. How much do you charge and have you been to prison? Or maybe it is, you know, it kind of throws them off balance. I don't know. I mean, how do you approach that? Well, when people would come into my home because I would tell them up front what I did for a living, the question did not seem so awkward. But here are a couple of other questions that you can ask. You want to ask people, in prior jobs that you've had as a cleaning person, have there been times when it didn't work out and you left the job?

You want to find out where the problems are. You want to find out what they have said about that situation. You want to ask a question like this. If the person you've worked for has been dissatisfied with your work and they told you that, how did you work that out? What did you do as someone in their employment? What was your reaction to that? You want to find out a little bit more about their personality when there's a problem. Have you ever had someone terminate you because they were dissatisfied

or they felt uncomfortable with you, what were those circumstances? You're asking them questions that really require that they give you information about problem areas that they may not otherwise generate if you don't ask. What you're looking for is, yes, you're looking for the answers, but you're looking for their behavior. Are they avoiding your answers? Are they talking about something else?

Are they saying, oh, no, no, that could never possibly happen, that never happened? That's probably pretty deceptive behavior, and I walk you through in Dangerous Instincts, how do you spot deceptive behavior? Are there a lot of protest statements when you ask those questions? I would never. That could never. And you evaluate the totality of not only the content of their answers back to you, but their behavior.

So you're looking for content and evidence of deception in their responses. I imagine that people have said to you, and I'd like to get your response, you're just paranoid because of the work you do. You're just too, your experience is too one-sided, and you just think everybody's a criminal, and that just this isn't my world. I've had people say that over the years, but I've actually had more people more often say this. The work you do is absolutely fascinating.

The work that you do getting inside of people's heads is incredible. How do you do that? I would love to know more about how you do that. And so it really isn't about the paranoia. It's about understanding people better, and I think that's what the general public is incredibly interested in as evidenced by their interest and fascination with shows like The Criminal Mind and Law and Order and all of these

programs that are about people who commit unusual acts or engage in criminal behavior. So it really isn't about the paranoia. That really hasn't been my experience. It's been more about, we want to know what you know. Yeah, right. Well, and now I know a little bit, at least, of what you know, and I appreciate you sharing it with us. Mary Ellen O'Toole is a former FBI profiler,

and she is author of the book Dangerous Instincts, Using FBI Profilers' Tactics to Avoid Unsafe Situations. There's a link to her book on Amazon on the show notes page for this podcast episode on the website, somethingyoushouldknow.net. Do you love Disney? Then you are going to love our hit podcast, Disney Countdown. I'm Megan, That's SomethingYouShouldKnow.net. Disney themed games and fun facts you didn't know you needed, but you definitely need in your life. So if you're looking for a healthy dose of Disney magic, check out Disney Countdown wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everyone. Join me, Megan Rinks. And me, Melissa Demonts for Don't Blame Me, But Am I Wrong? Each week we deliver four fun filled shows.

In Don't Blame Me, we tackle our listeners' dilemmas with hilariously honest advice. Then we have But Am I Wrong, which is for the listeners that didn't take our advice. Plus, we share our hot takes on current events. Then tune in to see you next Tuesday for our listener poll results from But Am I Wrong. And finally, wrap up your week with Fisting Friday, where we catch up and talk all things pop culture. Listen to Don't Blame Me, But Am I Wrong on Apple You are surrounded by sound. Right now, you're surrounded by the sound of this podcast, but sound is all around you all the time. Stop and listen, and you generally can hear something. Sometimes sound is considered wonderful and sometimes sound is just noise.

But all the sound we hear affects us in interesting ways and that's what Alex Doman is here to discuss. Alex is the co-author of a book called Healing at the Speed of Sound. Welcome, Alex. And so why is our sense of hearing, why is sound so important? Sound's a biological reality of human life. It is the first sense to develop in the brain, develops in utero around the second trimester. So the brain is wired for sound. And there are very few regions of the brain that are not affected by the sound that we take in our life, be it noise or music or our interactions with others. Does it develop because it needs to? The auditory sense develops because from an evolutionary standpoint, we need to hear to survive. When the caveman was alive and he needed to assess this environment for safety and know if the saber-toothed tiger was 200 yards away or 20 feet away,

they knew whether or not they had to fight or flee. So it goes to our basic sense of survival, and that's very, very true today. The auditory sense helps tell the brain whether we're safe in our environment, whether we're awake or whether we're asleep. This system is constantly monitoring for safety, so it is an essential sense to our survival. So the sound goes in your ear and it gets into your brain, and then how does the sound communicate with the brain so the brain knows you know to flee or to stay or how does that work there there are direct auditory pathways from the ear to the brain then indirect pathways that go through our limbic

system so there is a pathway to understand and analyze what's happening with sound so we can make a decision in response to it. But there is also a subconscious process going on in terms of stress regulation and survival so that we know whether or not we're safe in a sound environment or not. And that has a large impact on our stress level because if the body feels unsafe, the biological response to that is a stress response. So it works on two planes. But what about sounds, maybe noise would be a better word, that doesn't necessarily affect us in a way that we need to run away because, you know, we're about to be eaten by a tiger, but just the noise itself just irritates us. Well, not only does noise irritate us, noise,

according to a World Health Report that was published this year, Mike, noise is implicated as the second largest environmental health concern in Europe, second only to air pollution as an environmental cause of ill health. Noise, even low-level noise, is having very, very serious effects on our health and our stress levels. And noise is defined by the listener? Noise is defined by the listener. If you think about it like you're a gardener and you've got weeds in the garden, and those weeds are competing for the nutrients by the listener, but if you think about it like you're a gardener and you've got weeds in the garden and those weeds are competing for the nutrients of the vegetables

that you're trying to grow, they're an unwanted nuisance. So if you think of noise as unstructured sound that is not providing a health benefit but rather detracting from your health, that's how I would use a simple noise definition. It has no nutritional value. So knowing what you know, how do we use the sound for better and eliminate sounds that cause problems? So the first step is to be aware of your sound environment and take any steps you can to avoid noise or reduce the noise in your life.

The second is to create a good sound diet, to make conscious choices about the sound that you're taking in your body, just as we make conscious choices about the food we eat. The other thing that we ingest all the time is sound. So to use sound that is pleasant and increases our performance and to create a playlist based on what we like and its performance effects. So how do you do that? I mean, how do you manipulate the universe to do that? Well, in terms of avoiding noise, it's about you start in your home. You look at those things in the home which are causing noise that you may be able to monitor. If you have a noisy dishwasher, consider a dishwasher that has a low noise rating.

Choose to spend family time and do work activities in quieter portions of the house. One thing I strongly encourage is that we take five-minute timeouts. Take five to take a sound break and find some quiet in your day, especially after or before a stressful event. We can use noise cancellation headphones in order to reduce noise if we're commuting in public transportation or use your car as an oasis to create a soundtrack during your commute in your personal vehicle to help offset the noise that's in in your environment so there are a lot of things that we can do to take control by avoiding noisy situations, using noise cancellation headphones,

or using a good soundtrack in the environment to serve as a filter to block out some of that noise. Is silence neutral or is silence good? Silence is good and silence is essential. So just as important as it is to avoid noise and to choose healthy sounds. We need periods of silence to relax and to process and to spend some time with ourselves. What about though, I mean, people seem to like to have sound around them. They turn the radio on, not necessarily because they're actively listening. They just like to have some sound. They like to hear someone's voice. They like to hear music. They do the same thing with the TV. It's

kind of like company. Sound's a great companion, and we all use, or most of us, I should say, use sound as that companion. So the thing to consider is who are you keeping company with? So what kind of sound do you really want to spend your time with? But it does fill the void for many people in terms of having something around that is accompanying them and making them feel less alone, especially if they live in a very singular life. But many people are actually using this sound in their environment to filter out noise and aren't consciously aware of it. We just do it automatically as a means of adaptation. I imagine people have preferences about the sound and the noise in their life.

For example, at night, my wife likes to have the air filter going or a fan going. She likes that white noise while she sleeps. It helps her sleep. I would prefer silence. I like it really, really quiet. Are we both right? You're both right. So it's about what's right for you individually, and that can create some marital stress, can it might be. You may be wearing earplugs to block out that sound that your wife's playing in the background. So this is a pretty common occurrence. But the truth is,

is that you're both right. And it's about finding a happy medium for a good marriage. Talk about music. Is it necessary? I mean, I've heard that pretty much every culture in the world and throughout history has had music, that it is a every culture as a means to celebrate, as a way to reduce stress, to use within worship to increase and improve our productivity, and as a means of self-expression. So music is very much a part of who we are. And one thing that we can use in our life in terms of using recorded music, for example, to have an amazing impact without any work, to play an instrument, to get a means of self-satisfaction and a way to express our thoughts and our emotions, where language may not be sufficient to communicate and convey who we are and what we want to share. So music is an absolute essential part of our lives.

And just like we were discussing about silence versus noise to sleep, people have different tastes in music as well, and one person's music is another person's noise, it seems. Absolutely true. Music has very specific cultural components to it and generational components. So it is about using music, Mike, that feels good for you and feels in context for what you're doing. So what your personal playlist is and what mine is is very different. Comment on the more recent phenomenon now where people have earbuds in their ears pretty much all day long, and they've pretty much blocked out the world in favor of listening to whatever it is

they're listening to, good, bad, or okay in small doses? Well, now that personal listening devices have become ubiquitous and the earbud has become an appendage to the human body, it's really a cultural phenomenon that's changing us for better and for worse. The for worse is because of the long battery life these devices have and the fact that the headphones that insert into the ear canal don't block out background noise level. We're listening longer and we're listening louder than we ever have. And that is actually raising the rate of hearing loss in young people where audiologists are now seeing people in their early 20s

that have noise-induced hearing loss that they never would have seen before. On the other hand, we are using music as part of our personal playlist to improve our life, to improve our productivity, but that can come at a cost of socialization. So I understand what you're saying, that good sound is good and bad sound is bad and music plays a role, but how good and how bad? I mean, if you add good sound to your life, how much better is your life? If you have bad sound in your life, how much worse is your life? Yeah, Mike, there is a large body of scientific research today showing benefits of specific types

of music in different situations. So, you know, for example, with stress levels, we know that cortisol is a marker of stress, and there are numerous studies to show that using the right kind of relaxing music reduces stress levels, and stress is one of the leading cause of ill health in America. So music is a non-pharmacological anecdote to stress and is a major contributor to improving health. In the educational setting, the research has shown that music improves academic performance at levels that can make or break the difference between getting in college based on SAT performance. We know that musicians have larger brains than the rest of us. Numerous imaging studies have shown that musicians, especially the longer they play and the more they play,

actually develop regions in the brain that are larger than other people, which then improve their life performance. And some evidence is showing that music can actually have an impact of prolonging our mental acuity and memory and cognitive performance. So as we look at a very large aging population in our country, 74 million baby boomers concerned about their health, they can use music to help prolong their mental acuity, maintain their hearing, and live a higher quality of life. But do people adapt if you're in a noisy environment and you haven't been? Over time, will you adapt to it and any stress that it created in the beginning dissipates?

Well, we all have adaptation responses to our environment. And even though we're adapting and habituating to the environment, the negative impact of that noise on our body is still happening. It's just whether or not we're consciously processing that, but the harm is being done. Is there any type, particular type of music or any particular type of sound that seems objectively to be especially good for people? Well, what we help people to understand in our book is to break sound into three basic categories, first gear, second gear, and third gear. First gear would be low frequency sounds, more in the bass range, that are at tempos of below about 60 beats per minute. So that's the tempo and pacing in the music. That music is soothing and calming,

slows breath rate, slows heart rate, and is used to help manage stress. Second gear would be mid to high frequency sounds with a moderate tempo of 50 to 90 beats per minute. We would use that to optimize focus, concentration, and performance. Then third gear would have a wide frequency range and faster tempos above 90 beats per minute that increases heart rate and energy level. The kind of music that we'd use to motivate or energize ourselves when exercising or trying to be really productive. So just by breaking music into those three gears, we can take the music in our playlist, categorize it in terms of those gears, and then really put it to work in our sound diet.

Well, you've probably made people think about their sense of hearing and all the sound around them more just now than people have probably thought about it their whole lives. So, thank you. Alex Doman is author of Healing at the Speed of Sound, how what we hear transforms our brains and our lives. There's a link to Alex's book on the show notes page for this podcast on our website, somethingyoushouldknow.net.

And finally today on Something You Should Know, let's talk about car trouble. Because if you own a car, sooner or later, you will have car trouble. What you may not know, though, is that beginning with the car model year 1996, all cars, trucks, and vans have what's called onboard diagnostics, or OBD. So if your check engine light comes on, you can figure out what's wrong all by yourself. You have to purchase a scan tool, and they're a little pricey. They can go upwards of $100 or so. You can buy them online or at an auto supply store.

And then you plug this device. Usually it's under the dash. You plug it in, and it gives you a readout. It's a code. And then you look up the code in the book that came with the scanner, or you look it up online, and now you know what's wrong with your car. According to car care expert Lauren Fix, you can save a lot of money over the long run

because when you know what's wrong with your car, no one can try to sell you unnecessary repairs or tell you something's wrong that isn't, because you'll know exactly what's wrong. It can also save you money and time because you can call around and get price quotes for the repair before you take it in. Now, since you will use this scan device so infrequently, here's a great idea is to get the neighbors together or if you have family that live in the area or other friends, you can all chip in and buy this thing for a hundred bucks, and then it doesn't cost so much.

And that is something you should know. And that's it for this weekend episode. I'm Micah Ruthers. Thanks for listening today to Something You Should Know. Welcome to the small town of Chinook, where faith runs deep and secrets run deeper. In this new thriller, religion and crime collide when a gruesome murder rocks the isolated Montana community. Everyone is quick to point their fingers at a drug-addicted teenager, but local deputy Ruth Vogel isn't convinced. She suspects connections to a powerful religious group. Enter federal agent V.B. Loro, who has been investigating a local church for possible criminal activity.

The pair form an unlikely partnership to catch the killer, unearthing secrets that leave Ruth torn between her duty to the law, her religious convictions, and her very own family. But something more sinister than murder is afoot, and someone is watching Ruth.

Chinook, starring Kelly Marie Tran and Sanaa Lathan. Listen to Chinook wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Jennifer, a co-founder of the Go Kid Go Network. At Go Kid Go, putting kids first is at the heart of every show that we produce. That's why we're so excited to introduce a brand new show to our network called The Search for the Silver Lightning, a fantasy adventure series about a spirited young girl named Isla who time travels to the mythical land of Camelot. During her journey, Isla meets new friends,

including King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, and learns valuable life lessons with every quest, sword fight, and dragon ride. Positive and uplifting stories remind us all about the importance of kindness, friendship, honesty, and positivity. Join me and an all-star cast of actors, including Liam Neeson, Emily Blunt, Kristen Bell, Chris Hemsworth, among many others, in welcoming the Search for the Silver Lining podcast to the Go Kid Go network by listening today. Look for the Search for the Silver Lining on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.