We all know sleep and rest play an important role in one’s physical health. Resting, is just as important as the workout itself. Working out (especially when it comes to resistance training) begins breaking down your body tissues even causing microscopic tears, the rest days that you take will then provide the time your muscles, tissues, and nerves need so they can start to rebuild and heal properly. For this paper I wanted to research the different variables that can affect your rest periods and how they affect it.
The authors of this article had the objective of “To investigate the effect of music auditory stimulation (MAS) on cardiorespiratory parameters in recovery from exercise.” (Gomes Et al.) To put their thought to the test they took 35 men healthy men (any smokers/alcoholics or those with any conditions that couldn’t achieve the protocols were excluded from the experiment) and put them in an experiment that consisted of three sections; the maximal exercise test, control section, and music section. The individuals were randomly selected to be put in each group at the time of their arrival. Before they started the first phase they took the body mass of each individual by using a digital scale and they took the height by using a stadiometer which then allowed them to begin their testing. The volunteers were told to only consume a light meal two hours before, to avoid vigorous exercise 24 hours before, and to not drink alcoholic drinks or caffeinated drinks for 12 hours before the experiment started. The procedure was divided into three segments done between the times of 5:30 and 9:30 (so they didn’t mess with the circadian time clock) and they were performed on a treadmill with at least 48 hours in between to allow recovery time.
For the first section (Maximal Exercise test) they recorded each person’s maximum velocity they could reach and used it to indirectly figure out their anaerobic threshold. They would then enforce 60% of their Vmax throughout the study. For the second section (Control Protocol) the volunteers rested for 15 minutes in a supine position then did 30 minutes aerobic exercise on the treadmill which consisted of 5 minutes at a speed of 6 km/h and 25 minutes of their 60% Vmax + 1%. And finally, they did 60-minute recovery period which was three standing minutes on the treadmill and 57 minutes in the supine position. For the final section (Music Protocol) the volunteers were put through the same steps as the CP group with the only difference being they were exposed to MAS during their exercise and recovery times.
They used MAS and played calming music and it showed to have many positive effects such as lowering the heart rate and blood pressure. It was also seen throughout the experiment that MAS enhanced performance by providing a greater motivation to execute the workout, delayed fatigue, increased the work capacity, and even decreased the individual’s perception of effort they were eliciting. For specifics, the Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP), saw significant changes in comparison to the resting rate until minute 10 of recovery in CP and until minute 7 in the MP. Meaning, it took 10 minutes for the CP groups SBP to get back down to baseline and only 7 minutes for the MP group. They were also able to see statistical differences in heart rate between their resting and post exercise heart rate from only the 1st to 40th minute for the MP while the CP saw differences until the end of recovery. They were able to conclude that MAS did help with recovery, but, they said that they “cannot state that this method alone can improve recovery after exercise in healthy subjects.”
