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by Daniel Andrade
During this time of social distancing, one thing I’ve been trying to focus on is staying active and working out. Whether it’s a run around the neighborhood or high-intensity interval training in my room, I’ve been trying my best to exercise throughout the week. One of the major things that has helped me get through some of these tougher workouts is my playlist, which mostly consists of hard rock anthems. I was curious to see if my playlist was unique, so I asked a few other friends what they exercise to. What kept them going through a workout?
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The results were interesting. While I’m sweating to Linkin Park and Disturbed, some of my other friends were getting pumped up by Dua Lipa and Justin Timberlake. Were there musical selections any more effective than mine? Is there a reason why we gravitate toward certain songs when we’re in a good mood, or why we pick certain tunes to help us power through a workout? Why can we listen to certain songs on repeat for hours, but others we can only enjoy after one playthrough? After some research, I discovered that there are a wide variety of answers to these questions. It turns out that music can not only affect your mood, but it can affect your physiology as well.
Let’s start by talking about the connection between personality and musical taste. According to one study conducted by an international team of music psychologists, personality plays a bigger role than age, gender, culture, or education when it comes to musical preferences. In order to determine this, they first broke music down not by genre, which can be a little hard to define at times (I can’t tell you how hard it is for me to describe “emo” music to those unfamiliar with it), but by three new categories. These were arousal (tempo/intensity of a song), valence (the emotional mood of a song), and depth (the complexity of a song’s arrangement and/or lyrics). With these classifications in mind, the study found that more neurotic people tended to prefer songs with a more negative valence and lower arousal, whereas more extroverted people liked the opposite type of music.
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With that in mind, it made me think back to my playlist: hard rock, often “emo” type songs. These are songs with a high arousal, more negative or aggressive valence, and a mid-level of depth (“Click Click Boom” by Saliva definitely pumps me up, but I don’t think it’s because of the lyrics). So then what does my playlist have in common with my more pop-oriented friends? My guess would be the arousal category; whatever type of music you like to listen to, a good, driving beat will be more beneficial to your workout than a slow, plodding ballad.
As it turns out, this is true for a few reasons. A study published in February of this year found that upbeat (a.k.a. high arousal) songs not only boost your mood during a workout, but also lower the perceived effort of the workouts and bring about bursts of “effort, performance, and endurance,” particularly in cardio workouts. This made me think about something I became familiar with in my high school cross country team: “runner’s high.” After a certain distance, the pain essentially faded away as we got into “the zone.” So perhaps high tempo songs have a way of getting you into the zone in a similar way, without having to run a half-marathon. And in case you were wondering if maybe this same effect could be gained from having something like a podcast playing during your exercise, this study confirmed that the effect is stronger with music. In fact, it further stated that a great playlist will make you enjoy the workout more, and will lead to higher peaks in performance and higher heart rates, which oftentimes sync up with the beat of the music you are listening to!
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So how does this relate back to my example playlist? I have found myself syncing up to the beat of the music I listen to, whether it’s running in time with the song or doing my intervals in sync with the beat. Additionally, many of the songs in my playlist have a “breakdown” where the songs get particularly exciting, and I always feel a big surge of energy when that moment comes around, especially since I can anticipate it coming. The same can be said about EDM (electronic dance music) songs that have “drops,” as well as pop songs with catchy choruses. It’s hard to imagine having that same result when you’re simply listening to other people talk (as in a podcast) or when listening to songs that are slower or more emotional. Those songs certainly can be useful in other scenarios (going for a walk, laying on the beach, doing work around the house), but based on the studies we’ve looked into, they will not give you the boost that you need to get through a workout.
One final question remains: is there a significance to how many songs you listen to on your playlist? I have over 100 songs on my playlist which equates to over 7 hours worth of music, ensuring I’ll get a different mix of songs each workout. Other friends of mine have playlists as short as 10 songs, and some of them don’t put their playlists on shuffle either. Is it better to have more of a routine with your playlist or keep it exciting each time you exercise? One experiment found a surprising answer. After listening to only three songs on repeat, the conductor of the experiment found that he “focused on the lyrics on the first pass, a bit less on the second pass, and by the third pass [he] was barely aware of the background noise.” So once again, this person was able to get into that “zone” mentioned earlier by listening to songs repeatedly until they essentially acted as white noise and improved focus and flow. It's important to note that this experiment was not conducted while working out, but instead while working on some difficult and tedious mental tasks, but it still is a fascinating finding. So maybe my shorter playlist friends were onto something after all.
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So with all that in mind, what kind of music should you look for when building your perfect pumped-up playlist? Science seems to suggest your best bet is to pick a small collection of songs with a high arousal and positive valence. In other words, you can’t go wrong with a few upbeat songs that you enjoy, no matter what genre they’re from! So put together some of your favorite jams and stay safe, stay fit, and stay active!
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