Effects of preferred music on physiological responses, perceived exertion, and anaerobic threshold determination in an incremental running test on both sexes

This study aimed to investigate and compare the effects of preferred music on anaerobic threshold determination in an incremental running test, as well the physiological responses and perceived exertion at this intensity, in physically active men and women. Additionally, by using area under the curve (AUC) analysis of the parameters of interest during the graded test, we studied the effects of music at two physiological moments—before and after anaerobic threshold intensity (iAT)—in men and women. Twenty (men = 10; women = 10) healthy and active participants completed four visits to the laboratory. The first and second sessions were used for sample characterization. In the third and fourth sessions, participants performed an incremental running test (started at 7 km.h(-1) with increments of 1 km.h(-1) at each 3-minute stage) under preferred music and non-music conditions. Blood lactate ([Lac]), heart rate (HR), and perceived exertion were measured by two scales (RPE(Borg) and the estimation of time limit ‒ ETL) during all tests, and the total time of effort (TT) was considered as performance. Individual curves of the “intensity vs blood lactate” analyzed by the bissegmentation method provide the iAT and the AUC of [Lac], HR, RPE(Borg), and ETL before and after the iAT attainment were calculated. The iAT for men (non-music: 11.5±0.9km.h(-1) vs music: 11.6±1.1km.h(-1)) and women (non-music: 9.8±0.7km.h(-1) vs music: 9.7±0.7km.h(-1)) was not affected by music, and for both sexes, there was no difference between non-music and music conditions in all variables obtained at iAT. The AUC of all variables were not affected by music before the iAT attainment. However, [Lac], HR, and RPE(Borg) presented higher values of AUC after iAT for the female group with preferred music. This may be due to the fact that 70% of women have increased TT under music conditions. Overall, preferred music did not affect the iAT determination in an incremental running test. However, some physiological responses and perceived exertion after iAT of female subjects seems to be influenced by preferred music.