The effects of a music intervention on the autonomic nervous system during recovery from strenuous exercise

To investigate the effect of music on heart rate recovery (HRR) and heart rate variability (HRV) after intense exertion.

Five hundred male students enrolled at Yongin University, Korea, underwent a cycling test to assess aerobic capacity; 180 students with equal scores were selected for a music intervention, which was conducted after vigorous exercise. The 180 participants were randomized into three music groups and a control group; the participants in each music group listened to music at three different tempos: slow (lento) (n = 45), moderate (moderato) (n = 45), and fast (allegretto) (n = 45). The control group did not listen to music (n = 45). After the test, data on cardiac recovery and HRV were gathered and modeled.

The results revealed no significant variation in HRR and HRV indexes between the four cohorts (p > .05), and no significant differences were observed in the anaerobic power cycling indexes during strenuous exercise (p > .05). The music intervention had a significant impact on HR, low-frequency power (LF), high-frequency power (HF), normalized LF (LF_norm ), normalized HF (HF_norm ), and the LF/HF ratio during recovery (p < .05).

After rigorous activity, listening to allegretto music improved HRR and restored HRV equilibrium, which is critical to preventing and minimizing arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.