If you are like me, you can't even think about exercising unless you've got a great playlist ready to go. Believe it or not, there's actually scientific proof that music can enhance your workout!

Studies have shown that listening to music during exercise can improve results, both in terms of being a motivator (people exercise longer and more vigorously to music) and as a distraction from negatives like fatigue. But are certain songs more effective than others?

Generally speaking there is a science to choosing an effective exercise soundtrack, said Costas Karageorghis, an associate professor of sport psychology at Brunel University in England, who has studied the effects of music on physical performance for 20 years.

Karageorghis created the Brunel Music Rating Inventory, a questionnaire that is used to rate the motivational qualities of music in the context of sport and exercise. For nearly a decade, he has been administering the questionnaire to panels representing different demographics, who listen to 90 seconds of a song and rate its motivational qualities for various physical activities.

One of the most important elements, Karageorghis found, is a song's tempo, which should be between 120 and 140 beats per minute, or BPM.

That pace coincides with the range of most commercial dance music, and many rock songs are near that range, which leads people to develop "an aesthetic appreciation for that tempo," he said. It also roughly corresponds to the average person's heart rate during a routine workout.

For a stroll walker going at a pace of around three miles, or five kilometers, an hour, a track should have a count of 115 to 118 BPM; for a power walker going 4.5 miles per hour, the count is 137 to 139 BPM; while the BPM for a runner rises to 147 to 160.

Music and mood are also inherently linked. Researchers from the Netherlands have found that listening to particularly happy or sad music can change the way we perceive the world. Listening to a song like Bill Withers' "Lovely Day" can create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Nina Kraus is a neuroscientist and professor of neurobiology at Northwestern University in Illinois, who studies the effects of music on the nervous system. Nina states that humans and songbirds are the only creatures that "automatically feel the beat” of a song. Dr. Kraus concluded "the human heart wants to synchronize to music, the legs want to swing metronomically to a beat. Our bodies are made to be moved by music, and move to it.”


What are your favorite songs to move to? Check out the music that gets me moving below!