By Gioia Hollingsworth, Year 12
We all know that feeling when our favourite song comes up during a workout, and it gives us that extra little boost of motivation we need. Well, according to a growing number of studies, there is a psychological reason for our bodies’ reaction to music.
Indeed these studies have demonstrated that two of the most specific characteristics of workout music are tempo (the speed at which a piece of music should be played) and, what psychologists now call “rhythm response”. Rhythm response is all about how much the song or beat makes us want to synchronize our movements such as bopping our head, tapping our foot, et cetera. This instinct is typically why faster-paced songs and stronger beats tend to stimulate us more, and thus why so many of your “training” or “workout” songs belong for the most part to the Rap or Pop genres. In fact, a survey was conducted on 184 college students and it was found that the most popular types of exercise music were Hip-hop at 27.7 %, Rock at 24 %, and Pop at 20.3 %.
The study of how music impacts our brain has been an area of research since the 1950s and this niche of psychology has become known as neuro-musicology. As mentioned before, turning on your favorite tunes increases stimulation because there is a link between auditory and motor neurons. Our music makes us mobile and motivates us to move, but, this relationship goes both ways, as a physical activity also sparks mental activity. This is the reason why music fuels productivity and motivation, and thus betters our performance during training sessions. Indeed, when the body notices signs of exhaustion (such as high lactate levels in the muscles, sweat production, etc.), music counters the psychological feedback for the brain’s conscious attention and this is why we run further, lift heavier, and cycle faster with music in our ears.
When moving rhythmically during a beat, such as on a run, the body doesn’t necessarily need to make as many adjustments to coordinated movements as it would without “regular external cues”, meaning beats. In a 2012 study by C. J. Bacon of Sheffield Hallam University, participants who cycled in time to music required 7 % less oxygen than those who cycled with no music. This demonstrates that music can be a great pacer, and reduces energy expenditure that is otherwise used as a motor muscle regulator. The randomness of music has also been linked to increases in dopamine levels in the brain, and making a predictable playlist can turn songs from inspirational to mundane as monotony can create a rut. To help create a motivational music playlist, it is recommended that you put the playlist in shuffle mode, with many songs that don’t become too repetitive for you.
Summing up, we can say that auditory neurons stimulated by music in turn affect our motor neurons; this is mainly thanks to tempo and rhythm response, which allows for reduced energy spending and less noticeable signs of exhaustion. All in all, fast-paced music really helps us push our physical boundaries, and as we say, when we mentally feel like we can’t push anymore, our bodies still can.
The Ultimate Athletic Motivation: Music!
