Effect of isochronic tone tempos on physiologic recovery rates after cardiovascular exercise

Abstract

Emotional music has been found to affect physiological responses during exercise in the form of physical performance and recovery, but the effects of music tempo, specifically, on these factors are still unconfirmed. We designed a study to test if isochronic tones administered at two different beats per minute (BPMs) could influence physiological recovery time to baseline after strenuous endurance exercise. We predict that listening to an isochronic tone with a faster tempo will lead to a longer recovery time after exercise compared to listening to both a tone at a slower tempo and the control of white noise during recovery. We also predict that listening to an isochronic tone with a slower tempo will lead to a longer recovery time than the control, but a shorter recovery time than when listening to isochronic tone with a faster tempo. After recording data from 10 subjects, our results indicate that listening to varying tempos of isochronic tones during recovery after cardiovascular exercise does not significantly affect the rate of decline to resting levels of blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate. This leads us to believe isolating additional variables such as volume, genre, or emotional response to music selections in future studies may provide insight into how music selection can impact an individual’s recovery rate post-exercise.