Music can improve sports performance
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Why do you think the Olympic competitions are held in silence (apart from the support of the fans)? And all because music can really improve sports performance.
The effect of music on sports performance has been studied for a long time, and in the last 15 years there has been a cascade of studies that have shown that music provides a variety of psychological and psychophysical benefits that can contribute to improving sports performance. . No wonder athletes prefer to train on their favorite tracks. With music, the loads are perceived as less intense and the loads seem less heavy.
Music distracts people from pain and fatigue, improves mood and increases stamina. When listening to music, people run more, bike longer, and swim faster than usual, often without realizing it. This was written about ten years ago. Kostas Karageorghis, one of the world’s leading experts on the psychology of exercise music, has written that the music can be seen as “a type of legal performance-enhancing drug”.
This is confirmed by another study by Norwegian scientists.
Especially for this study, students at a music university wrote a track (in the style of electronic or techno music), which was played at a regular pace and then at a fast one. The experiment was carried out with young soldiers: 23 men and 17 women trained in complete silence or with electronic music that was completely new to them.
This study confirmed the researchers’ guesses: those who listened to music (either fast or normal) were more “charged”, ready for competitions, showed better results on the rowing machine. That is, listening to music before the competition can really improve the results.
The techno style was also studied by researchers at the Australian National Institute in Canberra. In his opinion, “techno” improved memory, significantly increased the speed of thinking, helped to build associations faster and easier to withstand heavy physical exertion. In addition, this type of music stimulates the release of dopamine in the brain, as if you had just eaten sweet and fatty food. Scientists believe this helps reduce anxiety.
No, we do not encourage you to change your musical tastes! After all, each genre has its advantages.
CLASSIC RELIEVES STRESS, IMPROVES HEART RATE
The German surgeon, part-time organist, professor at the Ruhr University Hans Joachim Trappe has shown that the classics, in particular the music of Bach and Mozart, can lower the heart rate and improve the psycho-emotional background. He believes that in addition to conventional therapy, music can significantly speed up people’s rehabilitation after operations.
And the classic relieves stress after hard mental work. It even lowers blood pressure. This was tested at the University of California. Also, scientists have proven that the classics affect the cerebral cortex and stimulate the thought process, imagination.
Classical music before bedtime is especially beneficial, researchers at the Semmelweis University in Budapest have shown. It will make the deep phase of sleep longer, even capable of eliminating insomnia! Sleep will be deeper if the sound of rain, the sea or just white noise is superimposed on the music track.
HEAVY ROCK HELPS YOU RELIEVE STRESS
At the Australian University of Queensland, an inhumane experiment was conducted: first they pissed people off by asking stupid or uncomfortable questions, then half of the irritated people locked themselves in complete silence, and the second half went into punk rock or metal. for 10 minutes.
And they found that for those who listened to aggressive metal, the level of hostility and stress was almost half that of those who sat in complete silence and digested their thoughts. Those who listened to music had their brains scanned in an MRI. And here’s what’s interesting: in women, rock activates the parts of the brain responsible for controlling emotions, while in men it creates the illusion that an outburst of aggression has occurred.
Psychologists have come to the conclusion that listening to this genre is the greenest way to quickly relieve stress.
POP MUSIC ACTIVATES MEMORY
In pop music there is always a clear rhythm, as it puts the brain in a state of “unconscious memorization”. Do you think why even after 20 years you remember the pop songs of the groups “Na-na”, “Brilliant”, etc.? And children’s songs are completely stuck in my head (and now together: “Together it’s fun to walk through the open spaces!”)
But here is another amazing effect: if you listen to light pop for an hour, you will activate the effect of “random memorization”, that is, you can quickly learn new information, from foreign words to poems or even formulas in physics.
It is believed that a break from work to listen to light music helps not to lose concentration for a long time. And volumes have been written about the benefits of relaxation music for relaxation and calm.
So listen to music and you will be happy, calm and successful at work!
