Trying to get more exercise each day but finding it hard to stay motivated? New research has found that listening to music while you run, walk or lift weights can help make staying active more fun; and it can serve as a distraction when the activity becomes challenging or as motivation to push a little harder. It all depends on your choice of music.
A London, Ontario, Ivey Business School post-doctoral researcher, Cassie Ellis recently recruited volunteer Kinesiology students to investigate how music, especially tone, tempo and genre of music influenced activity levels. Listening to music was found to help participants exercise longer and also improved mood both during the activity and throughout the day.
Music with a quicker tempo helps keep participants motivated during aerobic workouts; pop music is a favorite for women and hip-hop or rap is popular among men. A slightly slower tempo works well for weight training and a slower tempo is good for a slower-paced activity like dog-walking.
Next time you are busy finding excuses not to exercise, use those precious moments to create a playlist that will help motivate you to walk a little faster, train a little longer and most of all, have fun! If you are enjoying your activity, it is far more likely you will keep it up. For a little help finding the right tempo music for your next workout, check out Popsugar’s 10 best Spotify workout playlists here. You can download the Spotify app or software free on your device to listen. You can also find workout playlists sorted by Beats Per Minute at PodRunner.com .
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