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Effect of passive distraction on treadmill exercise test performance in healthy males using music
International Journal of Cardiology 97 (2004) 305 – 306 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijcard
Letter to the Editor
Effect of passive distraction on treadmill exercise test performance in healthy males using music Anil Bharani *, Ashutosh Sahu, Vivek Mathew Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, M.G.M. Medical College and M.Y. Hospital, Indore 452001, India Received 8 April 2003; accepted 10 May 2003
Listening to music during exercise or sports may be beneficial by improving exercise performance. Music can influence emotions, mask unpleasant feelings during exercise, delay fatigue and also affect cardiovascular performance [1– 3]. However, the clinical utility of music on treadmill exercise performance is not known. We conducted a randomized, blinded, controlled study to determine if distractive auditory stimuli in the form of self selected music would improve maximal exercise capacity and reduce the rate of perceived exertion during treadmill exercise in young untrained volunteers. Twenty healthy males aged 23 – 34 years (mean 26.9 S.D. 2.8 years) exercised till exhaustion on a treadmill, twice within 24 – 72 h, using Bruce protocol under identical conditions, while listening to self selected music or without music randomly. Main outcome measures included time to exhaustion, maximum heart rate, pressure-rate product and rating of perceived exertion using modified Borg scale (0– 10) [4] during the exercise. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences between the exercise performance with music compared to that without music accompaniment. Participants, while listening to self selected music exercised longer before exhaustion. (879 S.D. 214 s vs. 764 S.D. 180 s, P < 0.0005), achieved higher peak heart rates (201 S.D. 8.93 per min vs. 195 S.D. 10.85 per min, P < 0.005), and higher peak pressure-rate products (34,674 S.D. 4098 vs. 32,192 S.D. 4277, P < 0.005), and showed lower rating of perceived exertion at equivalent sub-maximal exercise (6.5 S.D. 0.94 vs. 7.6 S.D. 1.05, P < 0.0005) compared to exercise without music. Music accompaniment during treadmill test has been demonstrated to cause improvement in exercise performance with lower perceived exertion [5] and significant decrease in norepinephrine and plasma lactate levels [3] supporting the hypothesis that music has a positive psycho-
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91-731-2491214. E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Bharani). 0167-5273/$ - see front matter D 2003 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijcard.2003.05.048
biological impact on the exerciser which leads to improved endurance performance. However, the music induced physiological and affective responses to treadmill exercise may vary with the level of physical training. Brownley et al. [6] demonstrated that listening to fast, upbeat music during exercise was beneficial for untrained runners but counterproductive for trained runners. Music used as distractive auditory stimulus, in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients, promoted adherence to a walking regimen, and lead to improved physical performance and decreased perception of dyspnoea [7]. Poor motivation, monotony and boredom may account for inconclusive or false negative treadmill test results in some patients, during evaluation of coronary artery disease, due to failure to attain the exercise targets. We believe, music accompaniment during diagnostic treadmill exercise with its positive psychobiological effects has potential to improve the sensitivity of the test and reduce the rate of false negative or inconclusive results that will reduce the effort and the cost associated with repetition of such tests.
Acknowledgements We are grateful to Professor L.K. Mathur, Department of Biostatistics, M.G.M. Medical College, Indore for the statistical analysis.
References [1] Becker N, Brett S, Chambliss C, Crowers K, Haring P, Marsh C, et al. Mellow and Frenetic antecedent music during athletic performance of children, adults and seniors. Percept Mot Skills 1994;79:1043 – 6. [2] Szabo A, Small A, Leigh M. The effect of slow and fast rhythm classical music on progressive cycling to voluntary physical exhaustion. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 1999;39:220 – 5. [3] Szmedra L, Bacharach DW. Effect of music on perceived exertion, plasma lactate, norepinephrine and cardiovascular hemodynamics during treadmill running. Int J Sports Med 1998;19:32 – 7.
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A. Bharani et al. / International Journal of Cardiology 97 (2004) 305 – 306
[4] Borg GA. Psychophysical bases of perceived exertion. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1982;14:377 – 81. [5] Copeland BL, Franks BD. Effects of types and intensities of background music on treadmill endurance. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 1991;31:100 – 3. [6] Brownley KA, Mc Murray RG, Hackney AC. Effects of music on
physiological and affective responses to graded treadmill exercise in trained and untrained runners. Int J Psychophysiol 1995;19: 193 – 201. [7] Bauldoff GS, Hoffman LA, Zullo TG, Sciurba FC. Exercise maintenance following pulmonary rehabilitation. Effects of distractive stimuli. Chest 2002;122:948 – 54.
Letter to the Editor
Effect of passive distraction on treadmill exercise test performance in healthy males using music Anil Bharani *, Ashutosh Sahu, Vivek Mathew Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, M.G.M. Medical College and M.Y. Hospital, Indore 452001, India Received 8 April 2003; accepted 10 May 2003
Listening to music during exercise or sports may be beneficial by improving exercise performance. Music can influence emotions, mask unpleasant feelings during exercise, delay fatigue and also affect cardiovascular performance [1– 3]. However, the clinical utility of music on treadmill exercise performance is not known. We conducted a randomized, blinded, controlled study to determine if distractive auditory stimuli in the form of self selected music would improve maximal exercise capacity and reduce the rate of perceived exertion during treadmill exercise in young untrained volunteers. Twenty healthy males aged 23 – 34 years (mean 26.9 S.D. 2.8 years) exercised till exhaustion on a treadmill, twice within 24 – 72 h, using Bruce protocol under identical conditions, while listening to self selected music or without music randomly. Main outcome measures included time to exhaustion, maximum heart rate, pressure-rate product and rating of perceived exertion using modified Borg scale (0– 10) [4] during the exercise. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences between the exercise performance with music compared to that without music accompaniment. Participants, while listening to self selected music exercised longer before exhaustion. (879 S.D. 214 s vs. 764 S.D. 180 s, P < 0.0005), achieved higher peak heart rates (201 S.D. 8.93 per min vs. 195 S.D. 10.85 per min, P < 0.005), and higher peak pressure-rate products (34,674 S.D. 4098 vs. 32,192 S.D. 4277, P < 0.005), and showed lower rating of perceived exertion at equivalent sub-maximal exercise (6.5 S.D. 0.94 vs. 7.6 S.D. 1.05, P < 0.0005) compared to exercise without music. Music accompaniment during treadmill test has been demonstrated to cause improvement in exercise performance with lower perceived exertion [5] and significant decrease in norepinephrine and plasma lactate levels [3] supporting the hypothesis that music has a positive psycho-
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91-731-2491214. E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Bharani). 0167-5273/$ - see front matter D 2003 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijcard.2003.05.048
biological impact on the exerciser which leads to improved endurance performance. However, the music induced physiological and affective responses to treadmill exercise may vary with the level of physical training. Brownley et al. [6] demonstrated that listening to fast, upbeat music during exercise was beneficial for untrained runners but counterproductive for trained runners. Music used as distractive auditory stimulus, in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients, promoted adherence to a walking regimen, and lead to improved physical performance and decreased perception of dyspnoea [7]. Poor motivation, monotony and boredom may account for inconclusive or false negative treadmill test results in some patients, during evaluation of coronary artery disease, due to failure to attain the exercise targets. We believe, music accompaniment during diagnostic treadmill exercise with its positive psychobiological effects has potential to improve the sensitivity of the test and reduce the rate of false negative or inconclusive results that will reduce the effort and the cost associated with repetition of such tests.
Acknowledgements We are grateful to Professor L.K. Mathur, Department of Biostatistics, M.G.M. Medical College, Indore for the statistical analysis.
References [1] Becker N, Brett S, Chambliss C, Crowers K, Haring P, Marsh C, et al. Mellow and Frenetic antecedent music during athletic performance of children, adults and seniors. Percept Mot Skills 1994;79:1043 – 6. [2] Szabo A, Small A, Leigh M. The effect of slow and fast rhythm classical music on progressive cycling to voluntary physical exhaustion. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 1999;39:220 – 5. [3] Szmedra L, Bacharach DW. Effect of music on perceived exertion, plasma lactate, norepinephrine and cardiovascular hemodynamics during treadmill running. Int J Sports Med 1998;19:32 – 7.
306
A. Bharani et al. / International Journal of Cardiology 97 (2004) 305 – 306
[4] Borg GA. Psychophysical bases of perceived exertion. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1982;14:377 – 81. [5] Copeland BL, Franks BD. Effects of types and intensities of background music on treadmill endurance. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 1991;31:100 – 3. [6] Brownley KA, Mc Murray RG, Hackney AC. Effects of music on
physiological and affective responses to graded treadmill exercise in trained and untrained runners. Int J Psychophysiol 1995;19: 193 – 201. [7] Bauldoff GS, Hoffman LA, Zullo TG, Sciurba FC. Exercise maintenance following pulmonary rehabilitation. Effects of distractive stimuli. Chest 2002;122:948 – 54.