The Heart Effect: Startling New Information About How Music Affects Your Health

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Article Title: The Heart Effect: Startling New Information

About How Music Affects Your Health

Author: Art

Word Count: 457

Article URL:

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Twenty-four young, healthy test subjects lay quietly in a

university lab, listening to carefully chosen music through

headphones, as doctors and technicians hovered around them

meticulously measuring their vital signs. The study concluded

quickly and the subjects returned to their normal everyday

lives. But as the researchers began sifting through the data,

something new and interesting began to emerge.

We've known for some time that music is a powerful relaxation

tool. Music can decrease anxiety levels, lower blood pressure

and heart rate, and change stress hormone levels. It affects

your respiration, reduces muscle tension, increases endorphin

levels, and boosts your immune system. The effect of music is

so powerful, hospitals around the world use music to reduce

stress in patients waiting for surgery.

Now there's fresh evidence on the power of music to affect our

health. Researchers at Italy's University of Pavia recently

confirmed that music changes your heart rate, breathing, and

blood pressure. But as they analyzed their data, they found

something new, something no one had expected to find.

Dr. Bernardi and his colleagues were interested in expanding

the use of music to reduce stress in medical patients. Here's

how their experiment worked: the docs recorded the vital signs

of 24 test volunteers (12 musicians and 12 non-musicians) for

five minutes. Then the volunteers listened to six different

styles of music in random order. Random two-minute pauses were

inserted in each piece of music.

Here's what they found: fast musical tempos increased heart

rate, blood pressure and respiration. Slow tempos reduced them.

Pretty standard stuff. But then the shocker: the style of music

and the volunteers' personal musical preferences made no

difference at all. The only thing that mattered was the tempo.

It didn't matter if the music was classical, rap, techno,

romantic or an Indian raga. Only one thing made a difference to

their cardiovascular systems--whether the music was fast or

slow. This means that the music you hear, whether you've chosen

it or not, whether you like it or not, is going to affect your

health.

There's more: during the silent pauses between musical

selections, the test subjects' vital signs returned to normal,

in some cases stabilizing at healthier levels than before the

music. The researchers say this suggests that listening to any

kind of music--fast or slow--could benefit your heart.

Finally, the study found that musicians were more sensitive to

the effect than non-musicians. Musicians may have learned to

breathe in time to the music, to become more alert during fast

passages, and to relax when the music slows down. Whatever the

reason, a good prescription for helping maintain your

cardiovascular health could be to take music lessons.

About The Author: Art is a musician and the creator of

Relaxation Emporium. Want to conduct your own experiment? Head

over to http://www.relaxationemporium.com/music.html. Join our

mailing list & get immediate access to two free song

downloads--one slow (60 beats per minute) and one faster (100

beats per minute). Find out how your body responds to the beat!

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