Psychological and physiological effects of music time during walking performed by overweight and obese women

The aim of this study was to investigate if music tempi has an effect on women during self-selected pace walking. Sixteen women (mean ± SD, age 42.1 ± 5.0 years, height 157.1 ± 7.3 cm, body weight 80.1 ± 10.8 kg, BMI 32.5 ± 4.7 kg/m2, VO2peak 24.6 ± 4.3 ml/kg.min.-1)volunteered and performed three different sessions: walking without music, walking with medium tempo music, and walking with fast tempo music. Rating Perceived Exertion, BRUMS, and K4b2 were used to measure perceived exertion, mood state, and physiological response, respectively. Results showed that medium and fast tempo music can reduce perceived exertion (p = 0.01) and improvemood state(p< 0.05), respectively. Furthermore, music altered CHO contribution (p = 0.04) andhad a tendency to affect FAT (p = 0.05) contribution during exercise. With regard to ergogenic effect, the results showed that music does not influence the pace of activity. In conclusion, this study suggests that music can have psychological and physiological effects, but these effects depend on the tempo of music.