What question did this study set out to answer?

To investigate how listening to music or watching videos impacts perceived exertion and autonomic nervous system activity during exercise.

March 2, 2026Open Access

The Effect of Listening to Music or Watching Movie on Perceived Exertion and Autonomic Nervous System Activity During Exercise

Q: What is the clinical evidence from this study?

Study design: RCT. Population: Healthy adults undergoing treadmill walking exercise (n=9). Intervention: Listening to music or watching movie during exercise vs. Exercise without music or video. Primary outcome: Perceived exertion measured by Borg’s scale during exercise.

Key Result

Listening to music or watching movies during exercise reduced perceived exertion according to Borg’s scale in healthy adults during treadmill walking.

Key Points

To investigate how listening to music or watching videos impacts perceived exertion and autonomic nervous system activity during exercise.
Participants engaged in exercise while exposed to music and/or videos.
Measurements recorded included perceived exertion and autonomic nervous system metrics.
Listening to music and watching videos influenced perceived exertion levels during exercise.
Cardiac autonomic nervous system function changed in response to the different forms of media.

Study Design

Type

RCT (n=9)

Blinding

Open-label

Randomization

Random assignment of conditions to subjects

Multicenter

Structured PICO

Does listening to music or watching a movie reduce perceived exertion and alter autonomic nervous system activity during exercise in healthy subjects?

Population

9 healthy subjects

Intervention

Listening to music, watching a movie, or both during the last 15 minutes of a 30-minute treadmill walking session

Comparator

Comparison among the three conditions (music, movie, or both) and against the first 15 minutes of exercise without these stimuli

Outcome

Perceived exertion assessed by Borg's scale and cardiac autonomic tone estimated by spectral analysis of R-to-R interval (HF, LF, LF/HF ratio)surrogate

Listening to music or watching videos during exercise reduces perceived exertion in healthy subjects, potentially accompanied by non-significant changes in autonomic tone.

Limitations

Small sample size (n=9)
Lack of statistical significance in autonomic nervous system activity changes
No exact quantitative results provided for perceived exertion reduction
Open-label design without blinding
Single-center study

Abstract

Objective The aim of this study was to examine the effects of listening to music and/or watching videos during exercise on perceived exertion and cardiac autonomic nervous system function.

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Cite This Study

Iwatsu et al. (Thu,) conducted a rct in Healthy adults undergoing treadmill walking exercise (n=9). Listening to music or watching movie during exercise vs. Exercise without music or video was evaluated on Perceived exertion measured by Borg’s scale during exercise. Listening to music or watching movies during exercise reduced perceived exertion according to Borg’s scale in healthy adults during treadmill walking.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69a52920f1e85e5c73bf083e https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.14789/ejmj.jmj26-0046-s