A conversation with Concetta Tomaino—Spiritune Music Therapy Advisor—for International Women in Music Day.

Concetta Tomaino has worked at the intersection of music and health for nearly fifty years. Along the way, she’s co-authored numerous studies, co-founded the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function alongside leading neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks, and, perhaps most importantly, helped patients with severe illness find their voice through sound.

Spiritune is honored to call Tomaino our Music Therapy Advisor. As Founder and CEO Jamie Pabst shares, “Connie’s decades of work in music therapy have laid the scientific and clinical foundation that makes what we’re building at Spiritune possible. Having her as an advisor helps us understand what’s been built in the past so we can more thoughtfully build toward the future—and I feel incredibly lucky to have her guiding us. I feel a deep sense of responsibility to carry her legacy forward by bringing music-based care to more people, more accessibly than ever before.”

This International Women in Music Day (March 28), we’re tracing Tomaino’s time in the field—from her childhood as a trumpet player to her early research in New York nursing homes to her modern goal to bring the power of music therapy to the masses.  

How did you get started in the music therapy field?

I wanted to be a medical doctor since I was two years old. But I’ve also been involved in music my whole life. I sang in the choir at church, and in high school, I picked up the trumpet and played in the band. 

I was really a science geek, and in college, I became a pre-med student in chemistry and biology. I wanted to keep up with trumpet lessons in college, but in order to do that, I had to become a music major. So I was double-majoring in music and sciences.

By my junior year, I had a dilemma: Do I pursue music or medicine? 

It was just by accident that one day I saw an ad that said ‘Career in music therapy.’ And I thought, ‘Oh my God, what is music therapy?’

It just so happened—again, by luck—that the band director at my college at the time was also the band director at NYU. And two years before, NYU had just started a master's program in music therapy. And so I graduated in June of 1976 and started attending my first music therapy course that July. My first internship was at a nursing home in Brooklyn, New York.

What was it like to work as a music therapist in nursing homes at that time? 

Not much was known about Alzheimer's and dementia back then. Patients were overmedicated, tube-fed, and tied to wheelchairs so they wouldn't scream and pull out their nasogastric feeding tubes. They were written off as being non-responsive and not aware of themselves. 

But when I sang a familiar song to them, they came back to life. 

They not only participated, but they also seemed less agitated. They obviously knew the words to the songs. I’m wondering: ‘How can they process sound if they supposedly have no cognition left?’ That really started my search to understand how music affects the brain, and why music is preserved in people who have severe brain injuries and damage.

What was the public perception of music therapy back then?

It was a fairly new field, and nobody really knew about it. When Dr. Sacks and I went to see neuroscientists, they would say, “‘You can't study music. There's no way, it's too complex, and there’s no scientific way to study it.’”

But he and I were seeing that music was really helping people change and improve. People who’d had strokes and couldn't speak were able to speak again. People with movement disorders were able to walk better. 

One of the reasons we started the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function was to raise funding for basic neuroscience research. We got some early grants that allowed us to look at the cause and effect of what was working and why.  

How were you able to study music’s impact on patients before modern brain imaging devices?

That was the interesting thing. In my first study with Dr. Oliver Sacks, he was still using his 8-channel paper EEG [editor’s note: This type of ‘analog EEG’ recorded spontaneous electrical activity onto paper]. PET scans and other types of functional imaging were just starting—they were so limited in what they could do. 

So, we had to look more at clinical applications in real time. We studied the effects that music had on people using other types of tools, such as psychological measurements and neuropsychological assessments. We had to learn as we went and try to find applications that made sense within the context of caring for these individuals with a variety of neurologic impairments.

Do any patient success stories stick out to you?

I worked with one woman who was being treated with medication for a pituitary tumor, I believe. Because of the medication, she had something called Tardive dyskinesia (TD)—her tongue was constantly moving in and out of her mouth. Because she couldn't speak well, the staff treated her as if she had severe cognitive impairment.

But I noticed that if I got her to sing, her TD shut off. It was an example of auditory-triggered motor activity actually canceling out involuntary movements. When she was in this state, she was able to talk and have full conversations. And she was 100% cognitively intact.

We were able to show the staff that somebody who seemed to be incapacitated was fully aware and alive and functioning. It was just because of her medication that she’d had this side effect.

What has been the most memorable or meaningful moment of your career so far?

We've been working all this time to build up an argument for supporting music-based interventions in clinical music therapy.

I think a big win for the field of music therapy happened about ten years ago when Renee Fleming got involved with the NIH [to fund and standardize music and health clinical research for brain disorders].

Having the NIH recognize that there's real promise in music and brain research and that money and research efforts should be put behind this… that was amazing.

How have your past experiences shaped the work you do at Spiritune?

Throughout my career and with the Institute, I've been really involved in engaging with scientists and trying to understand the specific elements of music that can affect our function. 

I'm very interested in auditory entrainment and how the frequency of sound or the rhythm patterns of sound affect motor function and physiological states.

I think it was my scientific background and my experience working directly with patients that led Jamie to ask me to be part of the Spiritune team. My contribution has really been, with Dr. Daniel Bowling at Stanford, looking at the sounds that seem to affect emotional responses in very specific ways.

What do you hope is next for the field of music and medicine? 

We’ve come a long way since I started in the field: Medication and surgery aren’t always the end-all healthcare treatments anymore. Physicians are more open to alternative practices and other methods of healing. This has allowed the discussion of music therapy and its benefits to expand throughout the healthcare system. You no longer have to prove that music therapy is important.

But I still see room for improvement in two areas. One: Participation in music and creative arts should be an essential right for all children. Opportunities to access music should be available from birth until death.

Two: There has been some great research to show that personalized music can help people with Alzheimer's disease and dementia overcome behavioral issues. Music therapy reduces the need for psychotropic drugs. Yet still, many nursing homes use a schizophrenia diagnosis in order to give inappropriate psychotropic medications to people with dementia. 

One of my goals is to make a case that music therapy should be the first ‘prescription’ given to somebody with dementia, before psychotropic medication. I would love to see that happen. 

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

When Spotify released its 2025 year-in-review report, Spotify Wrapped, one feature in particular got the internet talking: Listening Age. 

Suddenly, people of all biological ages couldn’t stop posting about their musical listening ages. There were the twenty-four-year-olds bemoaning their 62-year-old listening habits and the 40-somethings owning up to having the taste of a teenager. Thought articles couldn’t decide if the new feature was spot-on, far off, or somewhere in between—but one thing was for certain: it struck a nerve. 

What was intended as a fun marketing tool got people asking themselves: How do musical tastes shift, or stay the same, as we get older?

It turns out this question has intrigued researchers for a long time, before Spotify was even a blip. Here’s what science has revealed about how musical preferences evolve, and the ages at which they tend to be the most malleable.  

Finding the most formative music years

Back in 1989, a foundational study came out declaring that people’s penchant for popular music seems to follow a U-shaped curve. That is, their preference for the music of the moment grows until they reach the age of 24, and then starts to wane. Many interpreted this study to mean that the music we listen to in early adulthood has the strongest influence on our lifelong music habits. 

Subsequent studies have come to the same basic conclusion: What we are exposed to when we’re relatively young tends to shape our preferences for the rest of our lives—in music, but also in fashion, television, etc. However, the exact age at which musical preferences develop is still up for debate. More recently, researchers have argued that the golden age probably happens earlier in life, when we’re closer to 14 years old or 17 years old instead of twenty four. However, most agree that the decade between 15 and 25 seems to be an important one. 

Interestingly, people seem to resonate with the music they listened to when they fell in this age window and the music that their parents listened to at this age. This suggests that musical preference is, to a certain extent, passed along through generations. 

A lifelong evolution

While musical taste seems to firm up when we’re in our teens and 20s, it doesn’t completely solidify. Changes can still happen throughout our lives, for many reasons. 

To investigate how, one study aptly titled Music through the ages tracked over 250,000 people to see how their musical attitudes and preferences evolved from adolescence through middle age. Researchers found that as people got older, they tended to start liking some genres of music more and others less, and these shifts were largely shaped by personality. For example, having a more ‘open’ personality was associated with an increasing preference for classical and jazz music in middle adulthood. 

Others posit that our taste for certain music evolves naturally once we have more years under our belt. Some genres, like classical and jazz, tend to be more complex, and so enjoying them might take more musical knowledge and listening experience, which can come with age. The memories we form around certain songs or genres of music also likely shape how we perceive those songs over the years. 

Maybe you’re born with it

While your response to music is partially the result of age and lived experience, there also seems to be a genetic component at play. Based on research on twins, the ability to elicit pleasure from music is partially heritable. Musical talent is also thought to be genetically determined, at least in part. 

The latest research on this topic finds that, in general, people tend to have a more “omnivorous” musical diet and enjoy hearing different genres and styles when they’re young. After analyzing over two billion listening sessions on Last.fm from 2005-2020, researchers found that young people listened to a wider variety of songs, favoring new releases but also exploring older music. This listening pattern persisted until the age of 40 or so, when people’s preferences tended to become more focused, narrowing in on the music they liked when they were young. “Beyond 40, current music consumption declines, and nostalgia-driven listening dominates,” researchers write. 

Your musical companion through the ages

Spiritune is designed to appeal to every type of music lover—no matter if you’re a disco-crazy 60’s baby or a millennial with a penchant for pop-punk. Instead of focusing on a particular style, it’s built with the intention of “making music accessible for everyone,” says Daniel Bowling, Ph.D., Spiritune’s Scientific Co-founder. 

Spiritune music tracks use principles of music therapy and neuroscience to lead listeners through noticeable changes in mood and energy in just a few minutes. Composed with genre-agnostic instruments and beats, they’re made to be therapeutic for everyone—no matter their listening age.

Like what you're reading? Sign up for Spiritune’s newsletter to get a monthly music therapy download straight to your inbox. Haven’t tried Spiritune yet? Download it today with a free trial!

Here at Spiritune, we’re constantly exploring how therapeutic music can impact the brain (by improving mood, enhancing focus, and more) and body (by deepening sleep, providing pain relief, etc.). But what exactly is ‘therapeutic’ music, and how is it any different than a pop song you’d hear on the radio? 

Here’s an expert-led guide to the attributes of therapeutic music, how it differs from other forms of music, and how you can benefit from listening to it daily. 

What Is Therapeutic Music?

Simply put, therapeutic music is any music that helps the listener reach a certain therapeutic goal—be it managing stress, enhancing memory, or easing pain. 

Some genres and musical attributes are considered more therapeutic for certain goals than others. Listening to classical music, for example, is generally thought to have a calming effect. Fast-tempo music tends to rev up emotional and cognitive activity, while slower beats often lower heart rate and promote relaxation.

However, therapeutic music does not need to sound one particular way. And in fact, it will sound different from person to person. 

As Daniel Bowling, Ph.D., Spiritune’s neuroscience advisor, explains, personal preference plays a significant role in shaping the outcomes of any musical experience. “It's all about what you enjoy,” he says. “That's really going to be what moves your nervous system the most.” 

While some sounds evoke reactions that are near-universal (you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who isn’t energized by Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, for example), there is no one way for a song to be considered “therapeutic,” since an individual’s tastes, memories, and culture affect how they respond to different pieces of music.

How Is Therapeutic Music Different Than Music on the Radio?

Here’s where it gets a little complicated: Pop, rock, country, or any other type of music you hear on Spotify or the radio can absolutely be therapeutic in certain contexts, for certain people.

Let’s say you are feeling tired and want to perk up, so you play an up-tempo Taylor Swift song and immediately have more pep in your step. Congratulations, you just used music therapeutically. If you’re feeling defeated after a long day and put on your favorite hopeful song from childhood—the one that you know every word to by heart—and perk right up, that totally counts, too. 

Bowling explains that music you love and have a history with can even pack an extra strong therapeutic punch due to the way it builds anticipation in the brain. “It’s a constant unfolding of expectation and reward,” he says. 

That said, there are plenty of ways to engage with popular, familiar music that are not therapeutic at all—and may actually make you feel worse. Listening to fast-tempo songs with complex lyrics while you’re trying to focus at work can be really annoying and distracting, for example. And if you’re in a bad mood, putting on a low-pitch song with sad lyrics that remind you of a low point in your life will likely make it worse. 

So, as a neuroscientist, Bowling doesn’t consider therapeutic music its own genre or category. “Whether it's therapeutic or not depends on the composer and on the listener,” he says.

What About Music Therapy? What Does That Entail?

Music therapy, as defined by the American Music Therapy Association, is the “clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program.” 

In other words, it involves listening to, engaging with, or creating music with a trained practitioner who can guide you towards your goals.

While you can definitely use music as a therapeutic tool on your own, as we covered in the last section, this wouldn’t be strictly considered music therapy. Using music as a therapeutic tool without the oversight of a practitioner is more often referred to as “music medicine.”

How Spiritune Makes Therapeutic Music More Accessible

Spiritune exists to democratize music medicine and bring the therapeutic power of music to the masses.

Each track is created with a specific goal in mind: be it to relax before bedtime, enhance focus, or adopt a more positive mindset. Professional composers will then use rhythm, tonality, harmonic progression, etc., to create tracks that fulfill this goal while being pleasing to the ear.

“Spiritune is music-forward,” says Bowling, adding that its tracks feature well-written compositions, versatile instruments, and smooth rhythms that are as universally appealing as possible. Most Spiritune tracks don’t have lyrics, which can be distracting, opting instead for instrumentals that make a wide variety of listeners feel good, he adds.

The app is designed to be easy and intuitive to use: Simply choose your current state (i.e., anxious or frustrated) and then your desired state (i.e., content or excited), and Spiritune will play tracks designed to get you there. 

You don’t need to consciously attune to the music; simply let it play in the background and wrap yourself in an “acoustic blanket.” Before you know it, you might find yourself feeling less restless, more positive, or more focused. Based on user surveys, 90% of listeners agree that Spiritune’s science-driven playlists help them reach their goals—often within just 10 minutes of listening.

While Spiritune isn’t designed to replace your favorite pop song (you’re safe, Taylor), it’s a helpful tool to add to your routine when you have a specific goal or outcome in mind and want a reliable, science-driven way to get there, fast. 

Like what you're reading? Sign up for Spiritune’s newsletter to get a monthly music therapy download straight to your inbox. Haven’t tried Spiritune yet? Download it today with a free trial!

Humans have been making music for at least 40,000 years. Millennia later, we’re still learning new things about the remarkable ways our bodies respond to sound. 

This year, scientists honed in on how music can help reduce the pain of a hospital stay, ease the trauma of war and displacement, enhance our ability to stay on task, and much more. There were over 700 music therapy studies published this year—and these five really had our team talking:

1. Using sound to ease the trauma of displacement.

Forced displacement from war and natural disaster is a growing threat to global health—one that a cross-cultural intervention like music may be uniquely well-suited to. 

Case in point: This year, displaced mothers and children from Ukraine reported significant mental health improvements after just eight weeks of a music therapy intervention. Caregivers showed fewer signs of PTSD, depression, and anxiety after the sessions, while children had improved communication and better socio-emotional functioning. According to their mothers, the kids were also able to “open up” more after playing instruments, singing Ukrainian songs, and engaging in musical rituals. 

2. Finding the right tune for focused work.

Music can help make monotonous tasks like computer work more enjoyable—but not just any song or playlist will do the trick. 

This spring, a randomized controlled study, Effects of Music Advertised to Support Focus on Mood and Processing Speed, found that Spiritune is significantly more effective at improving mood and performance during cognitive tests than other forms of music, such as Spotify’s “Deep Focus” playlist and popular songs from the Billboard Hot 100.

The study, which involved 196 healthy adults, concluded that Spiritune’s science-driven compositions were four times more effective than other music at reducing negative emotional states. An impressive 76% of participants were in a better mood after listening to them. Spiritune was also the only type of music to improve executive function and cognition.

It only took 7-10 minutes for these benefits to occur, demonstrating that listening to Spiritune is a fast and effective way to lock into work mode and improve productivity.

Get an inside look at the research here.

3. Demystifying the body’s response to sound.

New research suggests that listening to music is far from a passive process. When you press play on a song, your body and brain may actively synchronize with the rhythm and harmony of the track.

This year, a team of researchers led by Edward W. Large at the University of Connecticut reviewed existing literature to propose a new explanation for humans' musical response: the "neural resonance theory." This theory states that our brain waves actually synchronize to the rhythms of the music we listen to. Our urge to smile, dance, and groove with certain beats is the result of this physical embodiment. 

"This means that the human body is very much part of the music-making process. Neurons vibrate like a plucked guitar string. Seen on an EEG, brainwaves dance to drumbeats," reads a UConn recap of the study.

Concetta Tomaino, DA, the Executive Director of The Institute for Music & Neurologic Function and the Music Therapy Advisor at Spiritune, considers this one of the most important papers of the year because it takes fundamental principles of neuroscience and applies them in an exciting new way.

4. Investigating music’s potential for healthcare patients.

This year, experiments across the globe investigated how music can make hospitals and medical centers more comfortable for patients. 

In two general hospitals in Colombia, researchers found that both live music and pre-recorded music could reduce visitors’ anxiety and stress. Over in Ohio, a study across ten medical centers found that musical therapy sessions incorporating singing, playing instruments, and relaxation techniques tended to be the most effective at reducing pain in those with various diagnoses. 

5. Exploring music’s role in the operating room.

Music might be able to ease our stress even when we’re not consciously aware that it’s playing, a new study suggests. For this research, surgery patients were set up with noise-cancelling headphones before being put under anesthesia. Some of them listened to calming instrumental music during their procedures; the others didn’t listen to anything. 

Researchers monitored the amount of medication that both groups needed, and sure enough, patients who listened to music required lower doses of propofol (an anesthetic) and fentanyl (a painkiller) during their surgeries. This implies that music might help calm down the nervous system and stress response even when the brain is “offline.” 

“The unconscious mind still has areas that remain active. Even if the music isn't explicitly recalled, implicit awareness can lead to beneficial effects,” Farah Husain, a co-author on the study, tells BBC News. 

Furthermore, the music-listening patients had lower levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) once they woke up, leading researchers to believe that music therapy can be a helpful tool both during and after taxing events like surgeries. 

6. Reinforcing music’s role in neurodegenerative disease treatment.

Researchers have long suspected that music therapy might help those with neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. This year, two sweeping scientific reviews reinforced music’s potential to combat cognitive decline. 

First, a review of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research concluded that music can “act as a guardian of memory in AD,” combating memory loss by enhancing activity in certain brain regions. The paper also points out that music can open up non-verbal communication pathways, allowing patients to engage with their caregivers in new ways.

Then, a comprehensive analysis of Parkinson’s research found that a type of music therapy known as rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) can improve certain symptoms of the disease, like balance issues and gait abnormalities, by up to 20 percent. 

Study authors support music therapy as a low-cost, minimally invasive option for neurodegenerative disease patients, and predict that it will only become more widespread in the years ahead. 

Like what you're reading? Sign up for Spiritune’s newsletter to get a monthly music therapy download straight to your inbox. Haven’t tried Spiritune yet? Download it today with a free trial!

As we get older, our relationship with stress tends to change. While everyone’s different, research shows that, on average, younger people tend to feel stress more regularly and intensely than older adults. A recent Stress in America™ survey from the APA found that new technologies and lingering after-effects of the pandemic are putting even more strain on teens’ mental health, leading some of today’s Gen Z adults and younger millennials to report feeling “completely overwhelmed” by stress.

Universities around the country have an opportunity to equip young adults with tools to manage this stress in college and beyond. A unique program at Yale University is showing how students can improve their mental health with holistic stress management tools - including, we’re proud to say, Spiritune.

The Good Life Approach

The Good Life Center at Yale is an organization that equips students with evidence-based skills for fostering mental, physical, social, and emotional well-being. They host events that help students unwind with practices like yoga and art, as well as carve out physical spaces for health and relaxation (think: a green room filled with plants and natural materials). 

The Center also provides students with tools they can use to combat stress in the moment. When the pressures of maintaining healthy relationships, getting good grades, and planning for the future start to add up, these science-backed techniques can help them get back to baseline.

“By offering accessible, evidence-based opportunities to build healthy habits, we help students build a more balanced and fulfilling college experience,” Bethel Asomaning, The Good Life Center’s 2025-2026 Director of Programming, tells Spiritune.

A Flexible Tool for Students

Starting this academic year, The Good Life Center is offering students a free subscription to Spiritune’s music library. This new offering comes on the heels of scientific research showing that music can be uniquely therapeutic for adolescents—providing an avenue to manage emotions, ease anxiety, and build self-confidence.

“By giving students a simple yet effective way to regulate their mood and enhance focus, this partnership advances our mission of making well-being a more frequent practice,” says Asomaning.

Here’s how it works: Using a customized link, students can sign up for a free Spiritune subscription with their school email address. Once enrolled, they receive full access to Spiritune’s music library and all customization features, allowing them to tailor the experience to their current needs and wellness goals. So far, over 100 students have downloaded the app and put it to use to sharpen focus before study sessions, calm the mind before sleep, and more.

Only a few months into the school year, early student feedback has been encouraging. “Many have shared that Spiritune has noticeably improved their ability to concentrate and manage stress while studying,” Asomaning says. 

Students appreciate the app’s flexibility and accessibility, too. Since its tracks can be played to meet the demands of any time of day—morning, afternoon, or evening—it’s a helpful companion from the dorm room to the library. Its customized music arrangements can also guide students through a number of emotions—from sadness to stress to boredom—quickly and effectively.  

“Spiritune’s scientific foundation, combined with its accessibility and usability, makes it a helpful tool for students as they integrate wellness into their rest, work, and daily rhythms of life,” Asomaning says.  

Music Medicine for a New Generation

We’re thrilled to see how our partnership with Yale is equipping young adults to more effectively manage their mental health. 

“Spiritune leverages a tool that young adults are already engaging with daily: music! The early results from Yale show how the app can help students in a low-stigma, intuitive way,” says Jamie Pabst, Spiritune Founder and CEO. “For us, this partnership reinforces a core mission: to make evidence-based musical support easy to use, widely accessible, and part of how the next generation takes care of their mental health.”

Like what you're reading? Sign up for Spiritune’s newsletter to get a monthly music therapy download straight to your inbox.

The New York City Marathon is coming up this weekend, which means thousands of athletes are busy preparing for the big day: gathering their gear, upping their carb intake, and of course, curating the perfect playlist. 

Working out just isn’t the same without music, with one survey finding that 65% of Americans polled said they’d have “no motivation” to exercise without their tunes of choice. But what is it about music that helps us crush our athletic goals? Can sounds really make a difference in our performance, or is it just a placebo effect?

Here’s the science behind how music impacts mental and physical performance, and how to strategically use sound to nail your next workout.

The Science of a Sweat Playlist

Music can turn around your mood within minutes, making it a valuable tool when you’re faced with a daunting workout in the gym, on the mat, or at the track. 

Research shows that exercising with music enhances positive mood more than working out in silence, which can lead to better results. In one 2018 study published in Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, male and female athletes running on a treadmill selected more challenging settings, ran with more intensity, and felt better while doing it when they were able to listen to music. 

In addition to improving mood, certain music can serve as a distraction from the pain and discomfort of exercise. For evidence, we can look to a 2023 study that observed 28 healthy people as they completed functional workouts. 

Participants were carefully selected for their opposing musical tastes: For every person who enjoyed listening to a particular song, another person disliked it. Athletes reported feeling less pain when listening to their favorite songs than they did when listening to music they disliked or no music at all. Brain scans verified that listening to preferred music was associated with reduced activity in brain regions that respond to pain. 

Some researchers attribute this physiological response to the "bottleneck hypothesis," which theorizes that the human nervous system can only process a certain amount of sensory input at a time. 

This suggests that music’s workout benefits aren’t just a placebo. Music is, in a sense, “competing” with exercise-induced pain to capture your brain’s attention—and winning.

There is also an element of entrainment—the syncing up of your body with music—at play when you exercise to your favorite tunes. Your heart rate and blood pressure tend to align with musical tempo, speeding up during faster songs and calming down during slower ones. Musical patterns may also influence the speed and intensity of your physical movements, as shown in this research on walking cadence. 

These responses can allow you to push through discomfort for longer and stave off mental and even muscular fatigue during exercise. With this comes an increase in performance and anaerobic power (the body's ability to produce high-intensity, explosive energy without using oxygen). Music-induced benefits have been recorded during all types of exercises and sports—from endurance to resistance training, from taekwondo to sprinting. And it’s not just the pros who stand to gain: the same effects have been seen in trained athletes and recreational exercisers alike.

Turning Up the Volume on Recovery

Don’t turn off the music as soon as your sweat session is over; it’s been shown to aid in exercise recovery as well.

One of the best indications of this is the way that music impacts heart rate variability (HRV)—a measure of the balance between the two branches of your nervous system: parasympathetic (rest and digest) and sympathetic (fight or flight). In short, a higher HRV signals that your body is more responsive to the parasympathetic nervous system, indicating that you are better equipped to recover from stressors. 

“Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is one of the most powerful indicators of how the body adapts to demands—physical, mental, and emotional… It helps reveal how recovered or resilient someone truly is,” says Alexi Coffey, VP of Product at WHOOP—a wearable health companion that turns complex physiological data into clear, actionable feedback, and includes HRV as one of its key metrics.

Certain music—particularly slow, relaxing classical tunes—has been shown to increase HRV, making it a potentially helpful post-workout tool for kickstarting recovery. 

While WHOOP has not done any formal research on the relationship between music and heart rate or HRV just yet, Coffey considers it a fascinating area. “Music can elicit powerful physiological responses—from lowering heart rate and promoting calm to increasing arousal and focus before competition,” she says.

Spiritune Spotlight: Crunch Fitness is equipping its members to prioritize recovery with its new Relax & Recover® wellness rooms. These spaces contain proven recovery tools like massage devices, red light therapies, infrared saunas, and, of course, a selection of music medicine. Spiritune and Crunch have joined together to incorporate Spiritune tracks into these spaces to help gym-goers relax, unwind, and recover faster so they can continue to show up as their strongest selves.

“Our Relax & Recover spaces used to play our gym music, which was not conducive to relaxing the mind and body,” says Carolyn Divone, a Senior Director at Crunch. “It is great that Spiritune’s composers have extensive knowledge on how one can achieve their emotional goals within minutes… Spiritune has been a perfect fit for this space.”

Putting It Into Practice 

Ready to start using music to your advantage more during exercise? First and foremost, choose songs or melodies that you actually enjoy listening to. Personal preference plays a surprisingly significant role in how your body responds to music, with preferred songs consistently outperforming non-preferred songs in terms of performance metrics. So if the songs on your gym’s loudspeaker don’t do it for you, tee up your own music to listen to on headphones.

As for what tunes to choose for the ideal workout playlist, it depends on the exercise you’re doing. Since your heart rate and blood pressure tend to synch up with musical tempo, you’ll want to consider whether a faster or slower beat better suits the session. Faster songs (above 120 beats per minute or so) can fuel fast, high-octane moves, while slower beats may be more effective for slower, more focused movements, as well as calming anxious energy before a daunting workout or recovering after exercise. (Wondering about the tempo of your favorite track? This tool can tell you the BPM of any song.)

Spiritune makes it easy to tailor your music to your workout goals. Download the app to create personalized tracks that use neuroscience to match the mood and intensity you are starting your workout with—and the one you want to eventually reach—with a few clicks of a button. No BPM calculations or endless music service scrolling required. Spiritune also seamlessly integrates into the Apple HealthKit to record your listening sessions alongside your HRV data, so you can work out—and wind down—more intentionally and effectively. Music to any athlete’s ears.