Today I was at the gym running on the treadmill, suddenly a song that I really like (Can't feel my face, by The Weeknd) started to play, suddenly I started to get more excited and the 5 minutes of treadmill that were missing passed quickly. Then came the question, why do gyms and their regulars listen to so much music? Intrigued by the possible answer to my question, I decided to do a little research on the relationship between heart rate, physical exercise and music.

Nowadays, listening to music anywhere is super easy. All you need is a cell phone and headphones and voila, music. It's curious because everyone feels motivated to do something listening to music and physical exercise is almost always accompanied by it. Dance classes, bodybuilding rooms, spinning, almost everything revolves around the presence of some musical stimulus. Michael Phelps, the greatest medalist in the Olympics and in swimming, always appears before a competition with headphones on. In interviews he has already said that listening to music accompanies him throughout his career and makes him relax and enter his own world before his exams.

The intensity of aerobic exercises such as gymnastics and dance can be regulated by the musical tempo. Faster musical tempos impose faster movements and faster heart rates. In addition, music can increase motivation in the practice of exercises and be a point of distraction, the practitioner relieves the focus on pain or fatigue, returning his focus to the music heard. I believe it is this motivational factor that makes so many people try to listen to music while exercising, those minutes suffered on the treadmill seem to go faster when you have some rhythm to follow.

It is worth mentioning that very loud music can be harmful. In addition to causing instantaneous hearing discomfort, it can cause hearing loss and injury, high blood pressure and stress. Always keep your headphones at a comfortable volume, a tip is: if you can't talk without screaming or without hearing a person very close to you, maybe it's better to turn it down a little.

Source:

RODRIGUES, N. S. ; COELHO FILHO, C. A. A. Influência da audição musical na prática de exercícios físicos por pessoas adultas. Revista Brasileira de Educação física e Esporte, São Paulo, v. 26, n.1, p.87-95, jan./mar. 2012.