Study: Music key to staying slim

Listening to music during physical activity may be the key to motivating people who dislike exercise, new research suggests.

US scientists reported their findings from a study of overweight and obese women to a conference on obesity today. The research showed that the patients who were given a portable CD player to listen to music while walking lost more weight and body fat than the group who walked without music.

The group with CD players also followed the exercise program more faithfully, while fewer of them dropped out of the program, said Psychology Professor Christopher Capuano, of Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey.

"Walking to music seemed to really motivate the women in our study to get out there," he told the annual meeting of NAASO, the obesity society, in Vancouver, in western Canada.

Carpuano's group studied 41 women during a 24-week program of dieting, walking exercise three times each week, and weekly group meetings.

Carpuano noted that one of the biggest problems with long-term weight control programs is the drop-out rate, and music may prompt participants to stick with their regime.