Monday, November 22, 2010
Performance Enhancing Music?
An Australian study on triathlon competitors shows that listening to music can improve endurance by as much as 15%. The most profound effect is shown when the tempo of the music lines up with a runner's stride. Energy consumption in the body was found to be 1-3% more efficient when the athlete listened a regular musical beat or synchronous music. Additionally, music helps to lower the perception of effort, allowing athletes to ignore the pain of exercise more easily. Brain scans of subjects listening to loud, upbeat music show an increase of activity in the Reticular Activating System, an area responsible for behavioural motivation, breathing and heart rate. The loud upbeat music effectively activates the brain and prepares it for physical activity. Researchers suggest that using the right kind of music can not only prime professional athletes for better performance but also help casual athletes enjoy exercising more. In this way, when used in combination with exercise, music could help contribute to overall public health.
This study is further evidence of what is easily observable at any gym. It is not uncommon to see a line of cardio machines filled with people listening to their i-Pods. As the study suggests, using music in conjunction with endurance based exercise is particularly effective. Further evidence of the connection between music an exercise can be seen in the popularity of the new line of Nike shoes that contain a pedometer that wirelessly syncs to an i-Pod. Users can set their own "power song" that helps gives them a boost of motivation when they need it. The device also gives feedback about the progress of workouts and keeps track of progress over time. It would be interesting to combine the findings of the Australian study with products like the Nike/i-Pod device. Data about the rate of a runner's stride could be sent to an i-Pod, and the i-Pod could match the stride rate to the BPM of a song. I would even be possible to alter the tempo of songs in an existing playlist to match with stride rate. Perhaps such a device could even slowly increase or decrease the tempo of a song to adjust the intensity of a workout particularly if used in conjunction with a heart-rate monitor. There are many possibilities for future products that combine music and exercise. Perhaps governments like ours here in Canada should consider funding such projects to help lower healthcare costs. If music can be used to motivate regular exercise perhaps it can also make people more healthy and save us all some money.