Topic > The effects of listening to music on physical performance

IntroductionMusic is a very fascinating universal phenomenon. Almost everyone likes a certain type of music, whether it's the sound of a country song or the intensity of German rap. Music has the ability to completely change the atmosphere of a situation. It has been widely studied and used as a form of therapy for the mind. Therefore it would be interesting to see if it also had any impact on a person's physical abilities. It has been suggested that music influences the body's physiological patterns in many ways. A study conducted in 2003 (Yamamoto et. al) exemplified the fluctuations in neurotransmitter levels when the type of music was changed. When participants listened to slow-paced music their plasma norepinephrine levels decreased, while when they listened to fast-paced music their plasma epinephrine levels increased. Norepinephrine is a hormone generally known for sympathetic nervous system mechanisms, which give rise to the fight-or-flight response. When it is lowered, the body's stress level is suppressed, due to the decrease in blood pressure. Adrenaline is a similar hormone, commonly called epinephrine, known to produce sudden responses to combat stress. An increase in plasma levels would increase the heart rate and dilate the air passages to facilitate the expansion of oxygen to the body's vital organs. By simply choosing a different musical rhythm, the way our physiology works can be completely changed. A different investigation was conducted to find the effects of medical resonance therapy music (MRT-Music) on cerebral blood flow (Shemagonov & Sidorenko, 2000). The arterial stock in the brain is difficult to reach through the bloodstream due to the blood-brain barrier. Therefore neurotra...... center of paper ......ned individuals during progressive exercise." Physical Education and Sport, 6: 67-74.Priest, DL & Karageorghis, CI (2008). “A Qualitative Investigation of the Characteristics and Effects of Musical Accompaniment Exercise.” European Journal of Physical Education, 14: 347-367. Sariscsany, M.J. (1991). “Motivating Physical Education Students through Music.” Physicist, 48, 2: 93-94. Shemagonov, A. V. and Sidorenko, V. N. (2000). “Can medical resonance therapy music affect autonomic innervation of cerebral arteries?” Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Sciences, 35, 3: 218-223. Yamamoto, T., Ohkuwa, T., Kitoh, I. M., Tsuda, T., Kitagawa, S., & Sato, Y. (2003). fast on the performance of the supramaximal cycle and on the selected metabolic variables." Archives of Physiology and Biochemistry, 111, 3: 211-214.