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Tune to your tempo: Study shows this type of music could make you more active

Personalized music systems can boost your workouts and make them more enjoyable

man dancing wearing headphone
Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels

Being a musician, I really zone in on the pattern of the bass line, the heartbeat of the drums, and the meandering of each melody line. I can definitely work out just a little bit harder, longer, or with a little more pep in my step when I’m jamming out to songs I love. (80s anyone?) Can personalized music really pump up your performance and motivation? Researchers explored a music hack that makes workouts feel more fun, while supercharging your activity levels. That hack is Personalized Interactive Music Systems (PIMS) that tune to your tempo.

What are Personalized Interactive Music Systems?

PIMS are impressive technologies that use particular algorithms and sensors to adjust the tempo, beat, or genre of the music you’re listening to in real-time to match your physical activity levels or encourage you to pick up the pace (within reason). This smart tech basically syncs the music’s rhythm with your movement, whether you’re going running, walking, or cycling. Many systems also react to the location, time of day, or emotional state.

How do PIMS work?

PIMS usually learn about your musical taste, mood, activity, cultural background, biometrics, ratings, selections, and more. For example, you might be jogging, and the wearable sensors track your heart rate, pace, and movement. Your past data might show that you like electronic music with a strong beat.

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As the system detects that you’re slowing down and your heart rate indicates fatigue, the PIMS might determine that it’s time to kick things up a notch and play a faster beat and a more potent rhythm to match your desired running speed to motivate you. If you become too fatigued, the system reduces the music intensity or tension of the harmony to prevent you from burning out.

The research on the power of personalized, adaptive music

In a systematic review and meta-analysis published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, researchers evaluated the effectiveness of PIMS by searching 9 databases and selecting 6 eligible studies. The goal was to see how these high-tech systems affect people’s activity levels, mood, and how hard the exercise felt at the time.

The results showed that people were more physically active when using PIMS and felt better emotionally when the music was tailored to them. Interestingly, faster music helped even more. The music didn’t change how difficult they perceived the exercise to be. More research is needed, but the results are promising so far.

Steph Green (Steph Zee) is a singer-songwriter and professional writer with over 12 years of experience in healthcare and… Read Full Bio
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