2019-10-01 Australian Men\'s Fitness

OCTOBER 2019 MEN’S FITNESS 43

Some of us here at MF are old enough to remember when walkmans

and boomboxes were the l ate st t h i n g when i t came to p or table mu si c.

(We also had cold gravel for breakfast and walked uphill to school.

Bothways. In the snow.) Things sure have changed. Gone are the days of tinny

speakers and rewinding cassettes with a pencil to save on batteries. Constantly

evolving tech now brings us ever more refined products that offer amazing

quality of sound. And because they’re wireless, you can enjoy music wherever

you go. But what to take where? Here are our top product picks, as well as some

research on the powerful effect music can have on our bodies and minds.

S

CHOICE, BRO

Play it your way

■ Other research

suggests it doesn’t

matter what type of

music you listen to

• so long as you love
  it. Researchers from
  Keele University, UK,
  found that whether
  you like opera, thrash
  metal or show tunes,
  listening to your
  own choice of music
  can improve your
  enjoyment of sports
  and improve your
  training performance.
  “By playing their
  favourite tunes,
  we found that
  [study] participants’
  exertion levels
  reduced and their
  sense of being ‘in
  the zone’ increased,”
  says Dr Alexandra
  Lamont, one of the
  researchers. “The
  greatest effects
  were found for music
  used during training.
  “So, if you’re a
  Rihanna fan, for
  example, putting
  on her latest album
  could boost your
  performance and
  reduce perceived
  effort during training.”

RISIN’ UP

Don’t get

carried away

■ While music can

be a great motivator,

it can also potentially

lead to trouble. A new

study in Frontiers in

Psychology found

that listening to

motivational music

increases risk-taking

behaviour during

sportandexercise

• particularly in
  men and when
  participants made
  their own playlist.
  This appears to
  be at least partly
  due to the fact that
  motivational music
  boosts self-esteem


• and when you’re
  feeling good about
  yourself, you feel
  like you can conquer
  anything... until you
  fall flat on your face.
  Of course, we’re not
  saying you should
  stop pumping out
  Eye of the Tiger when
  you’re training. Just
  remember that you’re
  not Superman (or
  Rocky) – you’re a
  human with limits.

CHANGE OF HEART

Ohm before Zzzz

■ Music can also

help you wind

down. Even more

encouraging – it

could give your

cardiovascular

system a boost.

Researchfrom

India has found that

listening to yoga

music at bedtime is

good for the heart.

The body’s heart

rate changes as a

normal response

to being in “fight or

flight” or “rest and

digest” mode. These

states are regulated

by the autonomic

nervous system.

High heart rate

variability (more

about this on page

68) shows that the

heart is able to adapt

to these changes.

Conversely, low

heart rate variability

indicates it’s less

adaptive – and low

heart rate variability

is associated with a

32-45% higher risk

of a first heart attack.

Basically, this

study found that

listening to yoga

music before bed

increased study

participants’ heart

rate variability and

reduced anxiety.

Music with a tempo of 120-140

beats per minute is the sweet spot

for exercise benefits.

Unlike conventional

headphones and

earbuds that use the

eardrums to transmit

sound, these rest at

the front of the ear and

use bone conduction

technology to transmit

sound through the

cheekbones to the

inner ear, bypassing the

eardrum completely.

Bone conduction is

all part of the hearing

process – sounds

travel through our

eardrums and bones

simultaneously. The

transducers on the

headphones guide

mini vibrations through

the cheekbones to the

inner ears, delivering

sound without plugging

or covering the ears.

aftershokz.com.au

...Boneconduction

headphones?

WHAT THE

HELL ARE...

■Researchersfrom
Northwestern Uni,
US, decided to test
pieces of music from
several genres to
see how powerful
participants felt
listening to 30-second
clips. From this, they
identified the highest
and lowest “power
songs”. Songs rated
as powerful included
Queen’s We Will Rock
Yo u and 2 Unlimited’s
Get Ready For This,
while songs rated
lower included Fatboy
Slim’s Because We
Can and Baha Men’s
Who Let the Dogs Out.
Then researchers
looked at how the
highest and lowest
rated power songs
affected people’s
sense of power as
well as three other
psychological

and behavioural

consequences of

power: the tendency

to see the forest

instead of the trees,

perceived control over

social events and

the desire to move

first in competitive

interactions. They

found the high-

power music not

only evoked a sense

o f p ower, i t al s o

generated the three

consequences.

Rather than

the lyrics being

the driving force

behind this, the

researchers found it

was something else

causing the effect:

bass levels. They

found that those

who listened to the

heavy-bass music

reported more

feelings of power.

PITCH PERFECT

Addicted to bass