Music & Exercise: A Symphony of Health Benefits
Music & Exercise: A Symphony of Health Benefits
The goal of exercise is to improve our health. We know this is true because there is plenty of research that shows exercise increases our longevity and improves our quality of life. If we zoom in and look more closely at which systems of the body are affected by exercise, we see 4 different systems.
• Muscular System
• Cardiovascular System consisting of our heart, lungs, arteries, and veins
• Endocrine System that regulates hormones such as insulin
• Nervous System and Brain
New partnerships and funding, such as the Sound Health program from the Kennedy Center and the National Institutes for Health, is allowing scientists to discover how music impacts our body, emotions, and brain. This paper examines the intersection of music and movement/exercise and the health benefits that may arise when partnering these two elements together. We’ll look at each of the 4 systems above to see how we can reap the health benefits from combining exercise and music.
Have you ever attended a concert and caught yourself tapping your foot in time to the beat or swaying along to the music?
We listen to music with our muscles.
Researchers have found that music with a rhythm or beat activates the motor cortex, the region in our brain responsible for planning, controlling, and executing movement. When this area of the brain is activated by music, it makes us want to move, which utilizes our muscular and cardiovascular systems. There are plenty of examples in an exercise setting where music can motivate us, hone our focus, and push us to keep going, all of which effect those two systems.
Music can motivate us to get moving on a day when we don’t feel like exercising. After a long day at the office, listening to upbeat music in the car may make it easier to steer the car towards the gym for that workout. Having trouble getting up off the couch to take that walk? Try putting on a favorite, upbeat song and feel how your muscles are ready to move.
Music also has the power to pump us up before an important athletic performance and help us focus on the task at hand. Power lifters often listen to a upbeat song right before attempting to execute a 1RM to prime their muscles for the challenge and focus their brain. In MLB, players select a song as they step up the plate before a critical at bat. The song they choose is often one that energizes them for this big moment and helps them focus on what they are about to execute.
Music can also push us to keep going when we’re reaching our physical limit. Runners fine tune their playlists so that when they are reaching that final mile and their body is ready to give up, a certain song(s) comes on and helps them keep going. The right song at the right moment can help us take our muscular and cardiovascular system to a new level.
On the other hand, certain types of exercise/movement require us not to be pumped up, but rather calm and relaxed. Yoga classes often play music that has either a very slow beat or a beat that’s imperceptible. Without this beat, our muscles don’t receive the message to move. This instrumental music is designed to slow our heart rate and breathing down moving us from a sympathetic state to a more parasympathetic state.
So we can see, and you may have experienced, how music can affect our desire to move and even change our level of performance. When we use our muscular and cardiovascular systems, we are also utilizing our endocrine system as well.
Lisa Barrett, a neuroscientist and psychologist who specializes in studying emotions and the brain, has found that the same networks that are active in emotion are also active during motion. It’s becoming more well known that exercise can improve mood and is now even being prescribed to those suffering with symptoms of depression instead of medication. Part of this is due to an increase in dopamine levels in the brain when we exercise. Researchers are now finding that we experience an increase in dopamine levels when we listen to music we find enjoyable or when we hear a song we already know and love. It stands to reason, that if we exercise to music we enjoy, we get a double-dose of dopamine!
This release of dopamine is key for 2 reasons. 1) In diseases like Parkinson’s, low levels of dopamine disrupts the brain’s ability to control body movements. Separate studies show both exercise and music significantly improves motor control within the Parkinson’s population, likely due to the increase in dopamine. 2) When dopamine is released it creates feelings of pleasure and reward, which motivates it to repeat that specific behavior. This is critical in relation to exercise because this country is currently in a health crisis. Seven of the 10 most expensive-to-treat chronic diseases are preventable and physical activity is a large part of prevention. We need to get more people of every age participating in exercise so that we can improve the health of this country! If we can make exercise a more enjoyable experience for more people by something as simple as incorporating music, we may be able to motivate more people to participate and stay consistent with exercise.
We have some anecdotal evidence that this works. Think about some of the most popular exercise classes that incorporate music. Zumba has been around for over 30 years and Jazzercise is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year! The individuals who attend these classes are passionate about attending and are devoted to showing up every single week. They are exercising to music they enjoy, receiving a flood of dopamine which motivates them to return. But there may be more going on then just dopamine.
Research shows that when we listen to or create music with others, we feel common emotions. Experiencing music with others gives us a feeling of accomplishing something together or of working towards a common goal. We have a perfect example of this here in DC right now! The song “Baby Shark” has become the rallying cry not just for the team members of the Washington Nationals, but the entire fan base. A single song that brings people together to accomplish a single goal; winning the World Series.
But that’s not the end of how music connects us. If we go beyond listening and creating music with others to actually moving in time to the beat with another person, it promotes feelings of cooperation, even signaling to us who we can trust and help. Researchers conducted a study where Baby A bounced in time to the music and could see another adult who was also bouncing in time to the music with them. A different baby, Baby B, bounced in time to the music, but this time the adult bounced to a different beat. Later, when the adult dropped an item on the floor, Baby A picked up the item and handed it to the adult, while Baby B walked away. The baby that bounced in time to the beat with the adult demonstrated a willingness to help while the baby that didn’t move in time with the adult felt no sense of cooperation or connection.
There is a great exercise setting example of this where participants not only move to the beat of the music, but must move to the same beat as everyone else in the room. This is the principle and unique selling point behind SoulCycle. Unlike other indoor cycle classes, SoulCycle riders are encouraged to cycle on the down beat so everyone’s pedal in the entire room is moving in sync. Most SoulCycle enthusiasts are passionate, consistent, and express having these feelings of intense connection with the other riders. It’s a perfect blending of music, physical activity, dopamine, and moving together.
Dopamine has the ability to potentially alter our experience with exercise and to connect us with others. Additionally, if our brain does not receive enough dopamine, the ability to learn new information suffers, which in turn increases the risk of dementia. In Norman Doidge’s book, “The Brain that Changes Itself,” he states that there are 2 main ingredients necessary to improve brain health. Brain health is defined as the ability to grow new baby neurons and to extend the life of existing neurons. The ingredients necessary are 1) Physical Activity and 2) High levels of concentration or focus. He goes on to suggest one activity that includes both of these; dance, which also happens to include music!
DANCE
- is a physical activity that challenges our muscular and cardiovascular system which allows us to reap the benefits of exercise including brain health.
- Requires a high level of concentration to coordinate the upper and lower body motions and to stay in sync with both the music and possibly other dancers. It also checks the box for improving brain health.
- Uses music with a beat that triggers our motor cortex and makes us want to move.
- Uses music we enjoy which increases dopamine levels in the brain giving us a feeling of pleasure which motivates us to repeat the behavior again.
- Is performed while moving in time to the beat with others increasing the feelings of cooperation and trust.
Dance appears to be one of the best ways to reap all the benefits of both music and exercise. If dance is not your style, or you’re looking for ways to incorporate music into more traditional resistance training, it can be done with a highly educated personal trainer. We use sound regularly at AIM to help clients increase their level of focus, work on reaction skills, and make exercise more enjoyable. For example, during our boxing for Parkinson’s class, instructor Chris builds punching combinations around certain sounds. When that sound is played, participants must execute the punching combination. This requires listening skills, quick reaction timing, and a high level of processing in the brain to turn a sound into a particular motor pattern. We also use music as a way to dictate tempo while performing resistance training for joint health/safety and for specific strength goals.
In conclusion, music combined with exercise has a role in motivating us to get our muscles moving, can help prepare us for a big performance, increase our focus, push us to keep going and not give up, or even calm us down preparing us for relaxation. Music that’s enjoyable triggers the release of dopamine, an important chemical triggering feelings of pleasure that can motivate us to repeat that behavior, an element not to be overlooked if we hope to inspire more people to exercise. Lastly, music with a beat that’s performed with others, connects us and gives us feelings of trust. Music has the ability to affect our muscles, our emotions, and even our brain. So put on a favorite song, get up and dance, or head out for a walk!