Menu

HomeHow it worksContact UsContact Us

The impact of an 8-week music listening and sports games programme on athletic mental energy and toughness in Chinese secondary school students

Jiarun Wu, Garry Kuan, Sha Li, Abdulwali Sabo, Yee Cheng Kueh, Frank J. H. Lu · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · 2026

Researchers randomly assigned 200 Chinese secondary school students to 8 weeks of music listening only, sports games only, both combined, or regular exercise, then measured mental energy, mental toughness, blood oxygen, and the stress hormone cortisol. All intervention groups gained mental toughness and lowered cortisol, but combining music with sports games produced the biggest boosts in mental energy and the largest cortisol drop, with no differences between genders.
Takeaway: Play music during game-based training sessions to get a bigger mental-energy and stress-reduction benefit than either alone.
Abstract (source)

Chinese secondary school students suffer from increasing academic stress and mental health problems, while evidence for synergistic effects of music and sports games on positive psychological traits remains insufficient. This study examined the effects of an 8-week music listening and sports games intervention on athletic mental energy (AME) and mental toughness among Chinese secondary school students.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 200 students, who were block-randomized into four groups ( n = 50): music-only, sports games-only, combined music-sports games, and control (traditional exercise). Outcome assessors and statisticians were blinded. Outcome measures included the Chinese Athletic Mental Energy Scale (C-AMES), Mental Toughness Questionnaire-48 (MTQ-48), blood oxygen saturation (SpO₂), and serum cortisol.

Results: The combined and sports games groups showed significant AME elevation (both p < 0.001), with the combined group yielding the largest improvement. All experimental groups exhibited increased mental toughness ( p < 0.05). SpO₂ was significantly elevated in the combined and sports games groups (both p < 0.001), while serum cortisol was reduced in all experimental groups ( p < 0.001), with the lowest level in the combined group. Gender showed no significant moderating effect.

Conclusion: The combined music and sports games intervention is superior to single interventions in enhancing AME and mental toughness, and effectively regulates SpO₂ and serum cortisol. It provides a low-cost, feasible strategy to improve mental health among Chinese secondary school students.

Randomized controlled trialOpen accessRecovery & Sleep
Read the original →

Related in Recovery & Sleep

Short-term creatine supplementation enhances strength, reduces fatigue, and accelerates recovery in resistance-trained athletes: a double-blind, randomized, crossover trialSleep and Athletic Performance: A Multidimensional Review of Physiological and Molecular MechanismsEffects of sleep deprivation on sports performance and perceived exertion in athletes and non-athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysisInter-Set Blood-Flow Restriction Increases Peripheral Physiological Stress While Preserving Repeated-Sprint Mechanical Output in Trained Athletes.Impact of Combined Core Strength, Balance and Visual Skill Training on Selected Skill-Related Physical Fitness and Performance Variables of School-Level Badminton Players in Tirupathur District: A Quasi-Experimental StudyA Biopsychosocial Model of Athlete Performance: Integrating Psychological Skills, Coaching Competence, Nutritional Readiness and Well-Being Among Nigerian University Athletes