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Research has shown that listening to music while exercising not
only improves mood, but may also boost cognitive levels. An example
of this was seen in higher scores among cardiac rehabilitation patients
on verbal fluency tests. The study looked at the effects of music
combined with short-term exercise and found that people diagnosed
with coronary artery disease had enhanced brainpower after listening
to music while exercising.
Participants of the study included 33 men and women who had undergone
bypass surgery, angioplasty or cardiac catherization and were in
the final weeks of their cardiac rehabilitation. Each of the participants
were required to take a verbal fluency test before and after two
separate sessions of working out on a treadmill for 30 minutes at
a time. The workouts were scheduled one week apart and one took
place with classical music playing in the background.
The study also had the participants fill out a 30-item checklist,
which included adjectives to describe the patient’s current
mood, before and after exercising as a way to assess their anxiety
and depression levels. The study concluded that participants claimed
they felt better both emotionally and mentally after exercising
regardless if they listened to music or not.
However, signs of improvement in the verbal fluency areas were
more than doubled after listening to music compared to that of the
non-music session.
EurekAlert!
March 23, 2004
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