Listening to music while exercising activates specific brain region

Have you been listening to music as you get your daily exercise in during COVID-19? Have you found yourself changing your music choices during this troubling time, maybe to lighten your mood or help you focus more on your exercise and less on these uncertain times?

Here is a bit of a left-field article for BBB on the use of music during exercise. There has been a lot of research into why music seems to motivate us to continue to exercise and how it can lessen the pain or discomfort of exercise. But we have not been sure which brain mechanisms were involved. In this study, Dr Bigliassi has suggested that the left inferior frontal gyrus activates when individuals exercise in the presence of music. This region of the brain appears to be a hub of sensory integration, processing information from external and internal sources (e.g., music and limb discomfort, respectively).”

Neuromusical research into music training has also looked at this area of the brain and found that heightened activity also leads to better music and general learning and enhances memory and cognitive capacity. It could be that these parallel areas of research are illuminating how physical exercise and musical learning exercise are enhancing the same brain connections but in different ways. Could it be that using music during exercise and learning music could be complementary activities for the growing brain?

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