Many of us will probably agree that listening to music on the way to class is an effective way to keep you moving. Just today my usual Spotify playlist wasn’t loading so I started off my trek to Sparks a little slower than usual. But as soon as it got going, so did I. We do the same thing when we exercise. As much as I love to listen to “Hello” by Adele, it definitely doesn’t motivate me at the gym, so in usual fashion, I pick happy and upbeat songs to enhance my performance. But exactly why does this have any effect on us?
An early study conducted in 2003 by Atkinson, Wilson, and Eubank observed how 16 active subjects reacted to listening to fast, electronic dance music while they rode on a simulated 10km cycling time trial on a stationary bike. Another group did the same with no music as the control. They found that those who listened to the music cycled much faster than those who did not in the overall difference. However, they noticed that the majority of the difference could be found in the first and last few kilometers. Those who listened to music also believed that they were riding harder throughout the trial.
Another study in 2006 at the University of Plymouth looked at the effects of music tempo and loudness. The variables for this study were music tempo and volume, and the conductors looked at 30 “physically active” participants in five different conditions within the variables: loud/fast, loud/slow, quiet/fast, quiet/slow, and no music. The participants were able to choose their pace for 10 minutes on the treadmill. This study found that the louder and faster music boosted speeds and heart rates as well as the participants choosing a faster treadmill pace.
From a more psychological standpoint, people are wired to synchronize their movements with the beat of music, so fast songs with strong, intense beats are more stimulating. A recent study of 184 college students found that the most popular types of exercise music were hip-hop, rock, and pop. Also, different types of exercises call for different tempos. For example, your basic walk usually looks for 120 beats per minute (bpm) while running on a treadmill usually favors 160 bpm. One study found, however, that the ceiling effect occurs at around 145 bpm and higher tempos will not necessarily make you work harder.
These studies looked at the important links between music and exercising harder. While it is a generally accepted idea that listening to more intense and faster music will cause a person to exercise at a much more accelerated rate, bigger studies may make the ideas more concrete. Many people choose not to listen to music and still have intense and effective workouts. Correlation between the fast music and a better workout is not necessarily causation, while it may be in some cases. Other factors such as health and physical fitness may be confounding variables in these situations. So, while it is an overall accepted idea, more and deeper research should look into the connection between music and a good workout.
This post acknowledges some very strong reasons as to why music helps us workout. It does seem reasonable that there would be a link between loudness and tempo as a way to boost one’s intensity in their workout. Another thing that came to my mind was how mood could play a role in the workout. I know for myself, I never have a good workout if I am in a bad mood and music helps me get into a happier mood. I wondered if I was alone in this thought and found a <a href="link text“>study that showed that asked 834 people why they listened to music. Of 129 answers given, the most prominent answer was “Arousal and mood regulation”. This was an observational study so there is no reason to conclude music causes mood regulation nor is the study trying to prove that. This study simply poses the idea that many people (other than just myself) are using music to regulate their moods. More research can be done to find the biological mechanisms that cause mood regulation and eventually establish a causal relationship. It would also be nice to see a study done that tests my notion of mood having an effect on one’s performance during a workout. Then maybe all a good workout will depend on is pumping some happy tunes.
This is awesome. Great post. Recently I showed my mom how to work Spotify and she was mind blown. She could not believe that we have such easy and portable access to any song we want to listen to. When she was in college they could buy CDs and record one song on one side of a tape and one song on the other. She said to me “Kendall I use to dream about this kind of stuff.” It’s crazy for us to consider how lucky we are to be able to listen to music the way we do. This makes it even crazier to consider how it’s affecting us. Music is suppose stimulate us, so your post makes sense. I think you made a good point when you mentioned that “we synchronize our movements with the beat of the music”….that’s what dancing is! When I work out I absolutely work out to fast pace songs and find myself working out to the tempo of the beat. I liked that you recognized this relationship is a correlation and not due to causation. Listening to fast pace music doesn’t make me work out harder but it can help get me “pumped up” to do so.
You made a lot of very interesting points, especially about heart rate and high tempo music. I think that there is another possible mechanism for this that is much more simple. Personally, I always blast music in the gym because it takes my mind off the pain that my body is going through. For example, when you’re running long distance, music can help pass the time. It would have been interesting to see if one type of music is better than another. It is widely known that classical music is better for studying, but is there a difference when working out? You stated that high tempo music boosts heart rate, but the types of sounds and lyrics could also play a role, especially psychologically. Overall great post, and I would love to hear more about it.
This blog stated so many awesome points and studies. A lot of times that I am at the gym my wifi will crash and spotify will pause every few seconds. When this happens (which is often) I feel as if I physically can not go on with my workout. I instantly slow down and sometimes even stop. When the music stops I can hear my panting and I am focusing just on my workout, this is a recipe for disaster to me. I always say that I can not workout without music, and this blog points to a lot of reasons why I might think this. Going off of this I find that my absolute best, sweat reeling, workouts come when I am listening to rave music. Artists such as Steve Aoki and Galantis make working out pleasant and I can almost feel my heart rate increasing and excitement filling me as I run to the bass. In mentioning the popular genres you included rap, pop, and rock. I wonder what the correlation/ studies show regarding EDM. I googled the topic to find out and nothing valid seemed to come up. I wonder if anyone can pull up any studies about it? I believe that if there were studies done they would show a high correlation between a good workout and EDM music. Music in general has so many effects on our brain, as you stated, but EDM tends to increase dopamine.