An Investigation of the Effect of Environmental Factors on Respiratory Muscle Endurance Test Results in Healthy Individuals

An Investigation of the Effect of Environmental Factors on Respiratory Muscle Endurance Test Results in Healthy Individuals

This study aims to investigate the effect of music as an environmental factor on respiratory muscle endurance in healthy individuals.

Respiratory muscles are as vital as the heart and can be susceptible to fatigue under certain conditions. Therefore, evaluation of the performance of respiratory muscles is critical in the event of impaired respiratory function. Respiratory muscle strength and respiratory muscle endurance tests are used for the evaluation of respiratory muscle functions. While measuring respiratory muscle strength provides information about the individual's pulmonary status, it cannot measure respiratory muscle strength. Respiratory muscle strength is the capacity of respiratory muscles to maintain a specific workload over time and is directly related to respiratory muscle fatigue.

Endurance of respiratory muscles can be evaluated by different methods such as sustained maximal ventilation, increased threshold load test, and fixed threshold load test, and there is no consensus on the best test.

Respiratory muscle fatigue in healthy individuals is known to complicate exercise performance. Fatigue of the respiratory muscles causes the accumulation of metabolites such as lactic acid in the muscles. In this case, the inspiratory respiratory muscle is activated in metaboreflexia; The firing frequency of afferent nerve fibers (type III and IV) increases. An increase in sympathetic stimulation causes general vasoconstriction. Exercise performance is adversely affected. This results in earlier termination of the exercise compared to the conditions where respiratory muscle fatigue is prevented. Therefore, it is stated that reducing or delaying metaboreflex may be an essential mechanism to improve exercise performance.

During general endurance exercise tests, it may be possible to change the environmental aspects (auditory stimuli, listen to motivational music, adjust the tempo with the metronome, give visual feedback, etc.) to suppress metaboreflexia and delay fatigue. It has been shown that listening to music during exercise reduces fatigue and reduces the perception of exercise in healthy individuals.

A possible explanation underlying the beneficial effects of sensory stimuli during exercise involves the integration of multiple physiological systems. In such cases, the attention and emotional effects of sensory stimuli can spread throughout the body by modulating pulmonary, cardiac, hormonal, and muscle systems. Although there are studies about the effects of music on healthy people during whole-body endurance exercises, the effect of music on respiratory muscle endurance was not investigated.

Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of music on respiratory muscle endurance test results.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Being 18-35 years old.
2. Volunteer to participate in the study.
3. Without any health problems.
4. To be cooperative with the tests to be done.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. To have an orthopedic, neurological, chronic cardiovascular, pulmonary, and systemic disease to prevent the tests from being performed.
2. To have a visual, auditory, or cognitive problem.
3. Not willing to participate in the study.
4. To have previous experience in music and instruments used in the study.
5. In the last three months, there is no history of exercise training.