Affective and ergogenic effects of beat‐accented synchronous music on acute exercise training in older adults with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia

Given the increasing dementia population and that no cure for dementia is available, exercise may be important for older adults in the early stages of cognitive decline (ESCD) to delay the progression of cognitive deterioration. However, functional limitations are prevalent in older adults, which often hinder their exercise participation. Exercising with music is a novel approach to facilitate exercise and maximize health benefits because humans like to move in synchrony with music and because both music and exercise can help improve cognitive health. As part of a proof‐of‐concept study, we tested the acute effects of beat‐accented synchronous music (BSM) on affective and psychophysiological responses to exercise in older adults with ESCD.