Tune in, pump up and get smarter?

IT SEEMS SO OBVIOUS: Studies show how exercise influences brain power and how music influences brain power, but never on how music and exercise together can affect your noggin. Now this oversight has been corrected, and the results will have you pumping up your iPod and your muscles. In a recent study performed at Ohio State University (Columbus) in conjunction with Pfizer Inc., researchers tested the mental performance of 33 subjects in a cardiac rehabilitation program, both before and after they exercised, with and without music. On average, participants performed more than twice as well on a verbal fluency test after Jamming to the tunes than after listening to nothing but the clank of plates. Scientists aren't sure whether the boost, which points to increased action in the brain's frontal lobe, is lasting, and the tune of choice in this particular study was Vivaldi's The Four Seasons (so we can't vouch for your results after pounding out Pantera's Far Beyond Driven), but isn't it worth a shot if it means your brain and your body will potentially be more powerful?

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Tune In, Pump Up and Get Smarter? Emery, C.F. Heart Lung 32(6):368-373, 2003.

The Darker, the Better Beninger, C.W., Hosfield, G.L. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 51(27):7,879-7,883, 2003.

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