Rock Your Workout

Music & athletics go hand in hand, but are the tunes harmful or helpful? Music’s propensity to positively influence affective valence lends itself to increasing adherence, which is constructive in most cases. Multifarious physiological changes also occur in response to the acoustic properties, e.g., loud music may stimulate the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) leading to an increase blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension and body temperature, all of which may be helpful in priming the system for competition. Conversely, slow and gentle music can be used to attenuate the SNS response if needed e.g., calming down the overly anxious athlete pre-competition. Music may also effectively alter perception of exertion. Feedback signals of fatigue may be partially inhibited by the musical stimuli thereby distracting the athlete and essentially promoting ongoing and/or increased effort. This fact alone may help the athlete push themselves towards greater gains. If it’s time to up the volume on your game, you might consider plugging in.