Here’s How Music Can Impact Performance Sports

In addition to relieving boredom, listening to music while working out can enhance the effectiveness of your activity by boosting your stamina and elevating your mood. No wonder it is not uncommon to spot athletes wearing earbuds when they compete or practice. Indeed, music is a powerful tool that enhances one's connection to their chosen activity, be it competitive sports or a simple daily exercise. With professional athletes incorporating melodies into their training, it's easy to believe it genuinely benefits them. Yet, there is an ongoing debate about whether music is helpful or just an added distraction. 

The Benefits of Music on Performance Sports

Helps You Keep Going

Players frequently experience discomfort and tiredness when taking part in major competitions. Additionally, they may feel down and exhausted, which then may have an impact on their performance. By simply listening to music, athletes could distract themselves from the exhaustion and body aches they feel after a match. They are inspired by music to push through their tiredness—with the belief that they could still go on, players would carry on the game they are playing.

Beneficial to Mental Health

Negative thoughts can impact sports performance, such as an athlete picturing himself losing even when the match has not started yet. When your mind is filled with so many unfavorable musings, it could keep you from achieving what you have set out to do—to do well and win. This is where music comes in; some experts believe that listening to songs, even ones with no encouraging lyrics, helps athletes focus on the task at hand. Melodies help irrational thoughts fade away. Because your mind is focused on the music, it veers away from unpleasant ideas that can impair your performance.

Music Increases Sports Performance

When listening to music while working out or playing any sport, people are more motivated and perform better. Runners may have noticed that they are driven to dash faster when a fast-beat song comes up, particularly ones with encouraging lyrics asking to "let your body burn it all up." That's because the brain becomes active and causes muscles to contract when you are listening to music. When running, the brain is activated to help the limbs work well with the forces involved. Additionally, your stamina will increase, and you will feel less bored while working out if you listen to the appropriate tunes.

Enhances Mood and Boost Confidence

According to Costas Karageorghis, the author of the book Applying Music in Exercise and Sport, music can be a stimulant or sedative to the brain. It can improve mood, muscle control, and the mental formation of important muscle memories. As a stimulus, music can tap into areas of our brain that could not easily be reached. Karageorghis' research focuses on how music affects our mood and aids in lessening distraction. He discovered that the secret lies in making music stimulate the secretion of two naturally occurring chemicals in the brain—dopamine and natural opioids. Both help us perceive fatigue and pain differently. Music, according to Karageorghis, can have performance-enhancing properties.

Simply put, it is intoxicating. Music impacts more than just mood; it can also increase an athlete's self-confidence. American Nathan Keith Schrimsher, who competed in the 2016 Olympics, shared that listening to One Day Too Late before his last match helped him not to quit.

The Negative Effects of Music on Performance Sports

Distracts From Listening To Your Body

The ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we are doing, and not unduly reactive or overwhelmed by what is happening around us is an activity many people practice these days. It's called mindfulness, and practitioners are some of the people who believe that music could be a distraction, specifically when working out. Some athletes desire the ability to focus on the signals their bodies are sending, so they can control what to do next—push harder or slow down. They believe music prevents them from doing that critical task, hence finding listening to it as nothing but a distraction. 

It Could Dictate an Athlete's Performance

The mind is indeed a powerful tool—a study was done wherein one group received the message that music would improve their performance. In contrast, the second group received the opposite message. After it concluded, researchers discovered that those who were informed that the music would improve their performance completed more laps than those who were told it would worsen their performance. So, an athlete, who is listening to songs before a match, happens to come across an article saying that music is a hindrance in sports; could end up performing poorly. 

Conclusion

The question of whether music improves athletic performance is still unclear, according to the available evidence. Music is very personal. Everyone has a different ideal pace and intensity for a workout or training session, so figuring out exactly what works for you may require trial and error. For athletes who noticed that music has been beneficial to them rather than detrimental, there's no reason for them to lessen or remove it from their lives.