How music makes you exercise harder:
Even though it’s not understood why, music impacts the body during exercise. E.g. people tend to bike
faster and work harder while listening to music with a fast rhythm, and bike slower while listening to
music with a slower rhythm.
Music seems to distract people from themselves and their problems, e.g. basketball players were
significantly better during high-pressure free-throw shooting after they’d listened to catchy, upbeat
music with feel-good lyrics. They were distracted from the audience and from thinking about the
process of shooting.
Music distracts attention (a psychological effect) and gooses the heart and the muscles (physiological
impacts). This is what makes it so effective during everyday exercise.
(But music doesn’t simply motivate you. It may be that your body first reacts to the beat. Your heart rate
and breathing may join the music to exhilarate and motivate you to move even faster.)
Nina Kraus, a professor of neurobiology at Northwestern University in Illinois: “Humans and songbirds”
are the only creatures “that automatically feel the beat” of a song, she said. The human heart wants to
synchronize to music; the legs want to swing, metronomically, to a beat. So the next time you go for a
moderate run or bike ride, first increase the tempo of some insidiously catchy Lady Gaga downloads (or
Justin Bieber or Katy Perry or whatever reflects the current popular taste in your household), and load
them on your iPod. “Our bodies,” Dr. Kraus concluded, “are made to be moved by music and move to it.”
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/phys-ed-does-music-make-you-exercise-harder/?_r=0
Music, rhythm and the brain:
Listening to, playing, reading and creating music involves every part of the brain/ both hemispheres.
- Listening: memory centers in the brain, such as the hippocampus and the lowest parts of the
frontal lobe.
- Tapping along with music: cerebellum
- Reading music: visual cortex
- Listening to or recalling lyrics: language centers in the temporal and frontal lobes.
- Performing: frontal lobe for planning, motor and sensory cortex will be activated because
playing music requires co-ordination of motor control, somatosensory touch and auditory
information.
Music does involve both hemispheres, although a majority if activity does occur in the right side of the
brain (creativity). Which side of the brain engages with music can also be subject to cultural influence:
the Japanese process their traditional popular music in the left hemisphere, whereas Westerners
process the same music in the right hemisphere.
http://brainworldmagazine.com/music-rhythm-and-the-brain-2/
Music affects emotion, involves a deep level of our brain, and helps us heal:
Music stimulates activities of the amygdala, which regulates emotion, and the brain stem, which is the
center for many of the vital functions of our body such as breathing, heart rate and digestion.
Music can therefore be an effective way to treat the brain. Music therapy has demonstrated
effectiveness as a way to treat neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease,
stroke, brain injury, anxiety and depression.
Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare in Florida discovered the benefits of music for brain-surgery patients.
Live music therapy using patient-preferred music has been beneficial in improving quality-of-life
indicators such as anxiety, perception of the hospitalization or procedure, relaxation and stress in
patients undergoing surgical procedures of the brain. __Also, playing music such as rhythmic drumming
is now used as a holistic health technique. A recent study demonstrates that drumming can induce
synchronous brain activities in various areas of brain and can be beneficial for Attention Deficit Disorder,
alleviating anxiety, and stress relief. It also creates a sense of bonding and connectedness from person to
person in a community. This might explain why music has been widely used in ceremonial rites in most
societies throughout history.
http://brainworldmagazine.com/music-rhythm-and-the-brain-2/
If music is above 60 beats per minute, listeners experience a faster heart rate and increased blood
pressure. It doesn’t matter if it’s classical of pop. It’s the speed of the beat that counts.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3623237.stm
Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy? – Michel Gondry
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain – Oliver Sacks:
http://www.art-13.ru/sites/default/files/musicophilia.pdf
WHAT TO TELL:

Ever wonder why certain music makes you feel more alive or relaxed? --> we and songbirds are
the only animals whose hearts try to sync with the beat of music.

Slow music --> heart slows, breathing slows --> blood pressure decreases

Upbeat music --> heart quickens, breathing quickens --> increased blood pressure.

Loud music --> physical and mental reaction time is slowed

Boost of serotonin -> music helps to treat anxiety disorders

When one listens to music, a part of the brain called the ventral striatum releases dopamine,
which makes the experience pleasurable

Music also distracts you from things: e.g. pain during exercise. --> music motivates you

Promotes Immune Response
Cheerful music beats boost your immune system. How? The hypnosis or mental state created by
these music beats sends the brain into an alpha state, where endorphins (happy hormones) are
released. Thus, listening to soothing music is the simplest way to boost your immune response.
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-does-music-affect-the-brain.html
Listening to, playing, reading and creating music involves every part of the brain/ both hemispheres:
-
Listening: memory centers in the brain, such as the hippocampus and the lowest parts of the
frontal lobe.
Tapping along with music: cerebellum
Reading music: visual cortex
Listening to or recalling lyrics: language centers in the temporal and frontal lobes. -> music can
help recall lost memories --> music can help people with Alzheimer's e.g.
Performing: frontal lobe for planning, motor and sensory cortex will be activated because
playing music requires co-ordination of motor control, somatosensory touch and auditory
information.
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-does-music-affect-the-brain.html
HOW TO TELL IT:
1. Ever wonder why certain music makes you feel more alive or relaxed? --> we and songbirds are
the only animals whose hearts try to sync with the beat of music.
2. Slow music --> heart slows, breathing slows -> blood pressure decreases --> you relax --> spa
3. Upbeat music --> heart quickens, breathing quickens --> increased blood pressure --> exercising
4. When we listen to music the ventral striatum releases dopamine, which makes the experience
pleasurable. Listening to music also boosts serotonin --> controls mood --> music can help treat
anxiety disorders.
5. Incredibly, listening to music is one of the few activities that requires the use of both
hemispheres of the brain:
Highlighting parts of the brain:
-
Listening: memory centers in the brain, such as the hippocampus and the lowest parts of the
frontal lobe.
Tapping along with music: cerebellum
Reading music: visual cortex
Listening to or recalling lyrics: language centers in the temporal and frontal lobes. -> music can
help recall lost memories --> music can help people with Alzheimer's e.g.
Performing: frontal lobe for planning, motor and sensory cortex will be activated because
playing music requires co-ordination of motor control, somatosensory touch and auditory
information.
LAYOUT:
Why do we feel happy when we listen to specific music? Why do we want to listen to that one song over
and over again?
Music affects us in many ways, psychologically and physically.
-
Music can change our heartbeat, breathing and blood pressure: upbeat music --> quicker
heartbeat, breathing and increased blood pressure. Slow music --> slower heartbeat, breathing
and decreased blood pressure.
-
Listening to music engages the use of the hippocampus: the part of our brain that handles longterm memory storage --> listening to old songs brings back old/forgotten memories and
emotions.
-
Music can motivate you and distract you from problems --> e.g. during exercising; music can
give you a boost of serotonin that helps against anxiety.
-
Listening/creating music requires both hemispheres of the brain. One of the few daily activities.
-
But why do we want to listen to that one song over and over again? Just like with food, sex and
drugs, music causes a release of the feel-good chemical dopamine. Music has the ability to
create a state of arousal. --> pupils dilate, blood pressure rises, and the brain fires the auditory,
movement and emotional regions. In the same way that we crave drugs, music becomes
addictive. Your body remembers music as something that has caused a release of dopamine and
wants more!
-
'Music is a natural drug of happiness.'