These systems, known as PIMSs, use real-time data from wearables and smartphones to adjust musical features such as beat, tempo, and style to match the user’s pace – whether walking, cycling or lifting weights.

For example, when the systems detects you speeding up, it raises the music’s tempo to match your energy – helping you stay motivated and in rhythm.

This new systematic review and meta-analysis is the first to examine how interactive, adaptive music can influence both exercise performance and emotional experience. Participants who exercised with adaptive music reported more positive feelings and greater motivation during their workouts — in other words, they enjoyed exercising more.

The findings also show that faster music tempos were linked with greater benefits, supporting the idea that matching music to movement can help sustain effort and improve performance.

“Music has always been a motivator for movement. By personalizing it in real time, we might better support people in sustaining exercise routines,” says Dr. Andrew Danso, lead author from the University of Jyväskylä’s Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain.

The review analysed results from 18 studies across Europe, Asia, and North America, highlighting the growing potential of adaptive music systems in making physical activity more engaging and sustainable.

The study suggests these technologies could play a key role in encouraging people to stay active — an important step in addressing global health challenges linked to physical inactivity.

About the Study

The study, “Personalized Interactive Music Systems for Physical Activity and Exercise: Exploratory Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis” (DOI: 10.2196/70372), was conducted by an international team from Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, the UK, Singapore, India, Belgium, and beyond.