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1996, the United States Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and
Public Health stated that people who are physically active tend not only
to have better health, but also better mental health. This report stated
that physically active people in comparison to non-physically active people
showed higher scores for a positive self-concept, higher self-esteem, and
higher feelings of positive moods(American
Health Association, 2003). However, it is still being reported
that not enough people are receiving enough daily and consistent exercise.
According to the American Health Association,
cardiovascular disease is one of the leading killers in America (American
Heart Association). However, regular aerobic exercise can help
in the prevention of heart and blood vessel diseases. The American Heart
Association suggests exercises such as swimming, jogging, skiing, and/or
dancing. The benefits from these activities are controlling body weight,
maintaining blood pressure, increasing blood circulation to decrease heart
disease, increasing energy, preventing bone lose, and much more. As reported
by Macnay (1995) there have been several successful intervention programs
that have been helpful in reducing the risks for people with heart and
cardiovascular blood diseases by incorporating some form of regular aerobic
exercise. Because health and exercise is an extremely important issue,
research is attempting to create efficient methods to increase the consistency
of exercise. One of the interventions that researchers have studied is
the effect of background music on enhancing exertion during exercise, while
also increasing positive moods (Macnay, 1995).
One of the first studies, which investigated
the effects of background music on exercise, was conducted by Copeland
& Franks (1991). Their study examined whether different types of background
music intensities (eg: ranging in various tempos) would produce numerous
effects on endurance during treadmill use. There were several dependent
measures including: heart rate and self-reported perceived exertion during
the exercise. Self-reported perceived exertion was defined as how much
energy and how hard each participant thought the particular exercise was.
Twenty-four college-aged participants were randomly assigned to three different
stages of treadmill walk/run exercises. There were three types of background
music played. The first, labeled Type A, was categorized as loud, fast,
exciting, and popular music. The second type of music was defined as soft,
slow, easy listening, and yet also popular, labeled Type B. The last group,
labeled Type C, listened to no background music (the control group). The
results revealed that Type B provided the most significant increase in
treadmill endurance, and maintained the lowest heart rate and slowest time
to feeling exhausted amongst all of the participants. Copeland and Franks
(1991) concluded that having music in a slower tempo might contain beneficial
results for reducing physiological and psychological arousal during exercise,
which can enhance endurance performance.
In a related study, Mertesdorf (1994) was interested
in determining if the same results would remain consistent when the type
of exercise changed. This experiment was a systematic replication of Copeland
and Franks (1991) except the exercise was altered. Mertesdorf (1994) monitored
participants on a cycling bike, which included moveable arms in order to
provide both upper and lower body workouts. The participants all wore headphones,
connected to the cycling machines. The volume levels were comparable (identical).
Mertesdorf (1994) found that regarding self-reported quality of the music,
pedaling rate was paced by music. When the participants were exposed to
listening to music that had a more simple rhythm, they regarded the music
as "boring". Mertesdorf (1994) found that most of the subjects preferred
listening to the upbeat music because it facilitated exercise pace. It
was further noted that the music acted as alleviating the self-reported
dullness and tediousness of exercising (Mertesdorf, 1994).
Macnay (1995) extended the literature on music
and exercise by examining if music effects self-reported perceived exertion
and/or mood during exercising. Macnay (1995) worked with four male adults
who were administered in a cardiac rehabilitation program. All four men
were engaged in regular exercise activities that were closely monitored
by physicians. Listening to preferred music decreased self-reported perceived
exertion, but increased positive mood. It was also noted that people who
listened to preferred music while exercising in a larger group or even
exercising alone, reported an increase in the overall enjoyment of exercise.
Macnay (1995) concluded that music could function to motivate during exercising.
Dwyer (1995) was also interested in determining
whether there were any self-reported noticeable differences in the choice
of music on exercise intrinsic motivation (defined as engaging in an activity
for its own sake and for its inherent satisfaction) while exercising. Thirty-four
female participants were randomly assigned into two groups to exercise
in an aerobic dance class. Dwyer (1995) chose the form of aerobic dance
as the exercise in his experiment because it has become an increasingly
popular form of activity used by females in places such as the gym, and/or
at the privacy of the individual's home. Intrinsic motivation in this study
represented whether or not the participants who selected their own preferred
music during an aerobic dance class had a better workout than those who
did not select the music. Dwyer's (1995) operational definition of intrinsic
motivation was the need for self-determination, the need for competence,
and emotions such as interest, enjoyment, and excitement. Intrinsic motivation
refers to engaging in an activity for one's own enjoyment and pleasure
of the activity.
Dwyer (1995) asked the participants in the
experimental group whether they liked or disliked a list of songs presented
to them. Some examples were Madonna, Bangles, Taylor Dayne, etc. Dwyer
(1995) comprised this list based on the standard music used in traditional
aerobic classes. Dwyer (1995) noted that the exercisers' who were randomly
selected to choose their preferred music rated the workout significantly
higher than those who did not select their own music. The participants,
who thought they had contributed to the aerobic dance class by selecting
the music, reported a more positive mood throughout the workout.
Branching off from Dwyer (1995), Brownley,
Murray, & Hackney (1995) investigated whether there were individual
differences in the effectiveness of music on exercise. Brownley, Murray,
& Hackney (1995) compared differences between trained runners and untrained
runners to explore the possible effects that background music had on their
exercise. There were eight trained runners and eight untrained runners
who were randomly assigned into three music conditions. The three music
conditions were a fast tempo selection, a medium to slow paced tempo, and
no music at all. It was reported that there was a significant difference
in heart rate between the fast tempo music and those who did not listen
to music. It was further noted that the untrained runners frequently reported
a more positive affect while listening to music during exercise compared
ith the trained runners. Brownley, Murray, & Hackney (1995) concluded
that listening to music while running may be more beneficial to untrained
runners because of the lack of desire to run compared to those who are
trained.
More recently, Szmedra and Bacharach (1998)
conducted a related study, which was designed to specifically investigate
the effects of music on self-reported perceived exertion during treadmill
running in well-trained runners. Ten well-trained runners were observed
to examine if there were any effects from listening to headphone music
while running on treadmills. Listening to headphone music was reported
to produce a relaxation in muscle tension. This decrease in muscle tension
allowed an increase in blood flow, resulting in an impact on endurance
performance (Szmedra & Bacharach, 1998). The results were similar to
Copeland et. al. (1991), which found the music to have a psychobiological
impact on the exerciser, creating more opportunities to enhance endurance
performance. Therefore, well-trained runners may also experience the benefits
of music, but it is just in a different way than inexperienced runners.
Not only has research investigated benefits
of music with healthy people but it also has been studied using the clinical
populations as well. Pfister, Berrol, and Caplan (1998) investigated the
effects of music while walking on a treadmill for people who had chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease. Nineteen participants from a pulmonary rehabilitation
center were recruited to participate in this study on three different days.
The first day was a practice walk in which nothing was manipulated. On
the second and third days, the groups were randomly assigned as to which
group listened to music and which did not. The participants were asked
to walk as fast as possible within a span of six minutes. It was reported
that more than half of the participants enjoyed listening to music while
they were walking versus listening to no music due to its distracting elements
(Pfister, Berrol, & Caplan, 1998).
Music may be more of a benefit to some people
than others while exercising, but aerobic dance classes were among the
first to incorporate background music as a tool for increasing performance
and mood (Hayakaw, Takada, Miki, & Tanaka, 2000). Hayakaw et. al. (2000)
designed an experiment to test the effects of music on mood during bench
stepping exercises. There were sixteen middle-aged female participants
who volunteered for three exercise sessions, each with different types
of music playing in the background. The three different types of music
used were aerobic dance, Japanese traditional folksong, and no music. The
music tempo was kept consistent in all three sessions, and the participants'
bench stepped for sixty minutes, which included a warm-up and cool down.
The subjects rated their self-reported perceived exertion for overall body
use.
The aerobic dance music was found to have the
highest rating for self-reported perceived exertion. Another noticeable
difference also observed was between the participants' heart rates when
exercising to the aerobic background music versus no music. Aerobic dance
music maintained a higher-level heart rate compared to when no music was
playing. Overall, it was concluded that the music served as a distraction
for people from the discomforts of exercising. Listening to a more upbeat
music functioned as a better distraction versus the Japanese traditional
folksongs or no music at all (Hayakaw, Takada, Miki, & Tanaka, 2000).
Similar to the Hayakaw (2000) study, Potteiger,
Schroeder, and Goff (2000) investigated the influence of music on how participants
rated their self-reported perceived exertion during a twenty-minute exercise
routine. Twenty-seven male and female participants, who were rated as moderately
active, partook in a four-condition exercise experiment. These four conditions
consisted of 1) fast music, where upbeat jazz music was played, 2) classical
music, which played an arrangement of waltzes, 3) self-selected music brought
in by the participants; and 4) the control group, which played no music.
Potteiger, Schroeder, and Goff (2000) reported that the music served as
a distracter. The control group, which played no music, showed significantly
higher ratings of self-reported perceived exertion, but not actual exertion,
since there was no music acting as a distraction. These results complimented
Hayakaw et. al. (2000), in which both experiments demonstrated background
music to serve as a distraction from the discomforts of exercise.
The effects of music on mood and self-reported
exertion during exercise have been used in many different areas of research,
such as among people with cardiovascular disease and weight problems. However,
there is another area that has been investigated regarding the elderly.
In a study conducted by Matthews, Chair, and Kosloski (2001), rhythmic
music was used during exercise in elderly patients with dementia. It is
extremely difficult to engage the elderly to participate in exercising,
despite the overwhelming research that states how vital exercise is to
one's health. That is one reason why Mathews, Chair, and Kosloski (2001)
conducted a study to improve participation among the elderly in exercising
using music as the motivator.
Mathews et. al. (2001) found that using music
as an intervention increased overall participation of the elderly to exercise.
The participants' behaviors were observed over a twenty-five week period
in a reversal experimental design. Results indicated that increased levels
of participation were shown throughout the twenty-five weeks during the
experimental condition, which used rhythmic music during exercise. This
study was a good indicator that music can be used effectively to engage
people in physical activity more often, especially for those who need constant
exercise due to health conditions (Mathews et. al., 2001).
In 2002, Murrock also looked at the clinical
population by examining the effects of music on mood during exercise in
patients who were recovering from bypass surgery. There were thirty participants
in this study who were assigned to either Group A or Group B. Group A listened
to music while exercising, and Group B exercised to no music. Participants
were also asked to respond to the Borg Scale of Perceived Exertion and
the Rejeski Feeling Scale. The Borg Scale of Perceived Exertion rated the
amount of self-reported perceived exertion from a scale of six to twenty
(six being the lowest amount exerted). It is a tool to estimate the perceived
exertion, breathlessness, and fatigue during exercise (Borg, 140). The
results reported by Murrock (2002) revealed that Group A demonstrated a
significant mood enhancement from listening to music during exercise, while
Group B revealed a decrease in mood when listening to no music.
The research was explored even further when
DeBourdeaudhuij, Crombez, Deforche, Vinaimont, Debode, & Bouckaert
(2002) investigated music as an intervention for obese children. DeBourdeaudhuij
et. al. (2002) used background music as a distracting tactic to examine
whether it would help obese children exercise longer. Thirty overweight
children participated in a residential study for ten months. The results
displayed that the kids ran on a treadmill for significantly longer periods
when exercising to music because the music did act as a distracter while
running. DeBourdeaudhuij et al. (2002) concluded that the children conveyed
lower self-reports of exertion when distracted by the background music
(which made them exercise longer) in comparison to when no music was playing
while running.
This present study was a systematic replication
to extend the literature presented thus far. This study investigated several
different aspects within the topic of exercise, mood, and music. 1), It
was predicted that due to the three different conditions of background
music (fast, slow, or none), there would be an increase in positive mood
using the POMS mood scale (Profile of Moods States). 2), The overall mean
heart rate, and overall mean distance ran would be significantly higher
for participants who exercised to the upbeat, fast tempo music versus participants
who exercised to either no music or the slow paced tempo. 3), The participants
who were assigned to listen to no music were predicted to serve as the
baseline, and those who exercised to the slower tempo would have a significantly
lower mean heart rate, as well less distance ran. 4), It was predicted
that upbeat, fast tempo music would increase the participants overall self-reported
perceived exertion of their exercise in comparison to the other two conditions.
This study was different compared to the literature
because it investigated the difference between moods, distance ran, self-reported
perceived exertion, and heart rate based on the differences in background
music playing during the exercise. Thus far, the literature does not show
any study comparing all of these different dependent measures under the
effects of background music. This present study is a systematic replication
of previous studies, while also incorporating the POMS mood scale, overall
heart rate, distance ran, and self-reported perceived exertion, using the
Borg Perceived Exertion Scale. |