The Most Amazing Benefit of Music

How Does Music Affect Your Health?

We’ve seen how music can affect how your mind works, but how can it affect your body? Can music have any physical, tangible effects?

MUSIC AND YOUR CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM

Music can have the noticeable effect on your heart rate and blood pressure. This is because of the rhythmic nature of music. Here are a few studies that have looked into the effects of music on your cardiovascular system.

At Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, participants who were asked to listen to music before cardiac arrest surgery were reported to feel less anxious and experienced less pain than those who rested quietly.

At the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, researchers measured blood flow through the forearm while the patients listened to relaxation music. They noted that blood flow decreased significantly when volunteers listened to more relaxing music but increased when they listened to more upbeat or joyful tapes.

Over in Hong Kong, elderly volunteers listened to relaxing music for 25 minutes a day for four weeks and were found to have lowered systolic pressure (the top number in a blood pressure result) by 12 points and their diastolic pressure (the bottom number) by 5 points. A control group that did listen to music had no change in blood pressure.

MUSIC AND EXERCISE

Music helps us exerciseHave you ever tried running or lifting weights without listening to music? You’ve probably realized that listening to something fast and upbeat can help your stamina and your concentration, allowing you to exercise for longer periods of time.

In an experiment that dates back to 1911, American investigator Leonard Ayres discovered that cyclists pedaled faster while a band was playing than when it was completely silent. The assumption is that faster tempo music can keep you motivated and active. A survey of 184 students found that the most popular was hip-hop (27.7 percent), rock (24 percent) and pop (20.3 percent).

Visit this website for a list of suggestions.

MUSIC AND SLEEP

A research study published in US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health Database, studied ninety-four participants, aged between 19 and 28, who were known to have certain sleeping issues. The participants were divided into three groups: a group that listened to classical music (Group 1), a group that listened to audiobooks (Group 2), and a group that went to sleep in silence (Group 3). Each group listened to their audio for 45 minutes before falling asleep, for three weeks.

The researchers found that the group that listened to music reported significantly improved sleep quality, where the other groups did not report a change. Symptoms of depression also significantly decreased in the classical music group than any other group.

This suggests that listening to music can help alleviate symptoms of insomnia. Listening to relaxing music such as classical or ambient music can help one fall asleep much faster or have a more pleasant overall sleep.

 

By Alex Frank, Music Instruments Center (MIC)

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