Essay Sample: Does Music Help You Run Faster

Introduction

Music has been suggested to affect people in a multitude of ways, such as music will help when working out or running. We’ll be looking at how music may affect the speed at which we run. This topic is important because at any big sports event such as cross country and track, there is always music playing. I believe it is crucial to know if the type of music being played could have an effect on the runners participating. I hope to prove that different genres and paces of music will affect how fast or slow we run by using participants that are experts in the matter.

Review of Literature

http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8058013

The first source researches whether music has an ergogenic effect on runners. It also suggests that it would be best to not listen to music because you will run slower during competitions when you cannot listen to music. My research agrees with this article that music can affect the pace of running. 

https://thesportjournal.org/article/the-effect-of-music-listening-on-running-performance-and-rating-of-perceived-exertion-of-college-students/

The second source researches how music affects the speed of running along with how tired the participants felt after each run. It also suggests there is no large effect of music on running. My research suggests otherwise. Music did have some sort of affect on the participants. 

Method

Experimentation took place at the Fitch highschool track at 9:00 am on Oct 15, 2021. Each participant was asked to run one lap while listening to a certain song. Each participant listened to five songs making a total of five laps. Participants were asked to run in pairs of two due to time circumstances. Based on their previous racing times I paired them with someone of similar speed so as not to offset the times.

The first two would begin by listening to the first 15 sec of “Lost In Faith” by Coldrain which has a bpm of 142, followed by the next two participants when they finish and then the next. Followed by a repeat of steps for the songs. Song two was “Till I Collapse” by Eminem (Participants were asked to listen to the first minute of the song before starting) bpm 171. Song three was “Fur Elise '' by Ludwig Van Beethoven covered by Sylviy Capova (Asked to start after 15 sec) Bpm of 136. Song four was “Don’t You Worry Child” by The Swedish House Mafia (Asked to start at 15 sec) Bpm of 129. The fifth song was “Ring Of Fire” by Johnny Cash (asked to start after 15 sec) Bpm of 105.

Analysis

Based on the results, songs with slower a Bpm (beats per minute) will cause the pace of a runner to slow down. Along with slower Bpm’s slowing down pace, a faster Bpm will increase the speed of the runners. The difference in times between the first two runs had no change for two of the runners. This could be the result of them not being affected by music or them not paying attention to it. 

Two questions were asked to each participant as interviews after the laps were finished. How does the difference in music affect the runners before, during, and after the race? Subjects one, two, four, and five all had a similar response that the beat of the music can affect the timing our minds place our footing on the ground changing our pace when running. Subjects three and six said that the beat affects our heartbeat causing us to have more or less energy and run faster or slower. The second question asked was: What could be the reason different genres affect running times? All subjects were noted to have similar answers saying that different genres of music move to different paces or beats causing ourselves to do the same.

Discussion

Participants

Song 1

Song 2

Song 3

Song 4

Song 5

No music

Subject 1

0:99

0:97

1:04

1:07

1:11

1:03

Subject 2

1:00

1:00

1:05

1:08

1:13

1:05

Subject 3

1:05

1:03

1:12

1:14

1:16

1:10

Subject 4

1:07

1:03

1:13

1:17

1:19

1:13

Subject 5

1:15

1:15

1:17

1:20

1:22

1:18

Subject 6

1:15

1:14

1:18

1:21

1:22

1:19

Certain bpm of genres of songs do seem to affect the pace at which humans can run. Slower Bpm causes longer times while faster Bpm causes shorter times. The reasons for which subject 2 and subject 5 had repeating times for their first and second laps is unknown. Despite not having timers on hand the runners did an excellent job at keeping a close pace for each lap. Experimentation on people not regulated with running certain paces is necessary to provide more results on the effect of music.

Limitations

During the laps made by the runners I had realized that the songs were not mixed. The slow decrease in pace may not have been from the decreasing bpm which was also supposed to be in a mixed order. But could be from the repeats of laps tiring the participants. Further testing with more participants and longer distances would help this experiment become more accurate. Along with the correct mix of song order.

Future Research

I suggest that we test these theories on animals. Starting with animals similar to humans will show if anything specific in our brains allows us to perceive and be affected by the music. Animals like chimpanzees would be excellent starting subjects. Along with animals that are affected by chemicals similar to humans such as mice.

Conclusion

Music has been seen to help people in a multitude of ways such as the pace of runners. Multiple experiments and sources have been done with different findings. After testing the fitch boys high school cross country team on the effects of five different genres of songs and bpm. The conclusion that music does have an effect on running has been reported. Further testing is necessary due to human error in order of songs. Further testing on animals would also benefit to help us understand the differences in human and animal minds.