Exercise is like marmite: some people love it, while others hate it. But if you fall into the latter category, fear not – scientists reckon they’ve found a way to make your time spent in the gym more enjoyable, and it’s pretty simple.
Researchers at Brunel University in London have revealed that listening to music while you’re working out could make the whole experience much better.
This might seem a bit obvious. After all, it’s no secret that music can elicit an emotional response from the listener – making us feel happy, sad, angry or even motivated – which is why so many people find it so much easier to run while listening to music.
However, researchers have now looked specifically at how the brain responds to music when we exercise using electroencephalography (EEG) to help them along the way. Study co-author Marcelo Bigliassi and his colleagues explained: ‘The brain mechanisms that underlie the psychological effects of auditory stimuli during physical activity are hitherto under-researched; particularly so in ecologically valid settings.’
Bigliassi added: ‘The EEG technology facilitated measurement during an ecologically valid outdoor task, so we could finally explore the brain mechanisms that underlie the effects of music during real-life exercise situations.’
For the study, 24 people walked 400 meters on an outdoor track at a pace of their choice under one of three conditions: some walked while listening to six minutes of the song Happy by Pharrell Williams, some listened to a spoken word podcast, and some subjects didn’t listen to anything. During the walk, each individual had his or her brainwaves measured using EEG, and they were also asked to report on feelings of alertness and fatigue.
It was found that listening to music led to a 28% and 13% increase in enjoyment during the walking task, compared respectively to those with no auditory stimuli and those listening to podcasts, the researchers report in the journal Psychology of Sport and Exercise. Seemingly, this was due to an increase in beta waves in the frontal and frontal regions of the cerebral cortex.
Bigliassi said: ‘We showed that music has the potential to increase beta waves and elicit a more positive emotional state. This can be capitalised upon during other forms of exercise and render a given activity more pleasurable.’
So if you swerve any form of exercise, maybe working on the perfect playlist is the inspiration you need!
