Listening To Music Before A Competition Can Boost Your Performance
If you exercise regularly, you'll probably do more when the music comes on. Researchers know this as the ergogenic effect. The right music will make you feel less tired and create a positive stress response in your body.
"Music is known to enhance performance during exercise. However, athletes are not allowed to wear headphones during competition. We wanted to understand what happens when you listen to music before competition, not during," says Aron Laxdal, a professor at the Agder University (UIA).
To accomplish all this, he and his colleagues needed forty young soldiers and two versions of a techno tune they had composed.
"We recruited subjects from military recruits to participate in the experiment. 'It was a conscious decision, because they are roughly the same age, have the same taste in music and are quite educated,' says Laxdale.
It was important that the researchers look for things that could affect the results. So choosing the music carefully was also important.
"If someone has a special connection to 'Eye of the Tiger,' they'll feel better when they hear it." Others may have a negative relationship with the song, which could also affect the performance," says Laxdale.
The researchers had to find a piece of music that none of the participants had heard before. The solution was a degree in electronic music from the UiA Faculty of Fine Arts.
specially composed music
"To our knowledge, this is the first time that self-composed music has been used to analyze its impact before competitions," says Andreas Waaler, assistant professor at Roshol UiA.
He directs the university's electronic music course and guides his students to create musical compositions appropriate to their practice and tempo.
“The challenge was to create music that was relevant to the research but had qualities that matched the subjects' repertoire,” he says.
Vossteig's student Martin Brudewall came up with the best solution. Your techno track was designed to play faster or slower without sacrificing the quality of the music.
"Our research is bolstered by the fact that the music has been widely adapted. We wanted music that the audience could understand, without voice, and that would encourage people to exercise," says Roshol.
Previous UiA research has shown that people physically react to electronic dance music (EDM), whether they like it or not.
enhanced with music
In some experiments, forty young soldiers, 23 men and 17 women, were given a fast version, a slower version, or no music. They were then asked how they felt. And finally, they completed the thirty-second rowing session.
The scientists measured the effect of music in two areas.
One area was mental state. It is about how the participants felt. The second area was how "brave" the participants were willing to speak up.
"After listening to the music, the participants performed better on both episodes. Regardless of whether the music was fast or slow, the preparation had a positive effect on the performer, compared to those who did not listen to the music," says Laxdale.
Those who listened to fast music before training also put more effort into rowing.
"This suggests that there are psychological benefits to those who listen to music before competitions," says Laxdale.
The research was published in the journal Music & Science .
For more information on "Don't Put Music On" by Christopher Garry Pusey et al. "Effects of musical tempo training on arousal, affective state, perceived exertion, and anaerobic exercise," Music and Science (2023). DOI: 10.1177/20592043231174388
Provided by the University of Agder
Quote : Listening to music before a competition boosts your performance (August 15, 2023) Accessed August 22, 2023 at https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-08-music-competition-boost.html.
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