Music - A Proven Health Fix

A recent study orchestrated by the director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland, Michael Miller MD, revealed that music can have the effect of causing blood vessels to dilate and improving the health of the heart. This adds to the growing body of evidence indicating the physical health benefits that can be sought from seemingly unrelated lifestyle choices.

In this particular study, music was played to volunteers as their blood vessels were observed using ultrasound. When music that made them feel good was played, their blood vessels dilated by 26%. The dilation led to an immediate increase in blood flow – similar to what would be expected during aerobic exercises. When volunteers listened to music that made them feel unhappy or tense, their blood vessels constricted by 6%. Interestingly, when the volunteers listened to comedy sketches and laughed, their blood vessels also dilated, but by a lower 19%.

Michael Miller commented “These results were music to my ears because they signal another preventive strategy that we may incorporate in our daily lives to promote heart health.” To look further into the issue of how powerful of an effect non-physical factors can have on our health, we’ll investigate the health benefits of music a little further.

Music has been shown to be a powerful mood regulator. We have all experienced the stimulating effect of loud, upbeat music and the calming effect of slow music. Studies from the early 1990s concluded that music significantly lowers the heart rates and calmed and regulated the blood pressures and respiration rates of patients who had undergone surgery. Harvard researchers have also more recently shown that the rhythms of healthy hearts may be similar to those found in classical music, and that certain rhythms, such as that of harp music can cause your heart to beat more normally. The body appears to “tune in” to music.

Clearly, if a person’s heart beat is regulated, it will have a calming effect. But music also improves mood by reducing negative emotions. One study published in the October issue of The Journal of Clinical Nursing found that pregnant women listening to soothing music showed significant reductions in stress, anxiety and depression. In light of the ever-increasing use of antidepressant drugs to control individuals’ moods, this is valuable information. So there are two separate mechanisms outlined through which music enhances mood. There may well be others at work.

An example of how this is already being applied is in zoos. Zookeepers have been playing classic rock to animals, finding that it improves their mood and behavior. This is supported by a 2008 study by researchers from Queen’s University at Belfast Zoo, wherein they found that elephants were calmed by the sounds of Classical composers.

Music has also been shown to enhance physical health directly, in exercise and athletic ability. Sport psychologist Costas Karageorghis successfully devised soundtracks to enhance the performance of athletes running a half marathon in London, and showed that music reduced athlete’s perception of how hard the work is by about 10 percent during low-to-moderate intensity activity. The performance of the athletes improved as a result. Again, the music was also found influenced athlete’s mood, elevating the positive aspects, such as vigor, excitement and happiness; and reducing depression, tension, fatigue, anger and confusion.

There are other benefits to be had from listening to music while exercising: studies have shown that listening to music while exercising improves verbal fluency. A 2003 study published in the journal Heart Lung found that listening to music while exercising boosted cognitive levels and verbal fluency skills in people diagnosed with coronary artery disease (coronary artery disease has been linked to a decline in cognitive abilities). In this study, signs of improvement in the verbal fluency areas more than doubled after exercising while listening to music, compared with the non-music session.

For those who play musical instruments, more benefits have been discovered. In 2008, Harvard researchers concluded that musical training improved unrelated cognitive function. In the study, children who were trained in music for 3 years or more did not only advance in music related tests, such as finger dexterity and auditory discrimination; but also in apparently unrelated tests such as verbal ability and visual pattern completion. Music is now being used as a learning aid in America to help school children pass SAT’s.

Music alone has also been shown to:

• Improve motor skills in patients recovering from strokes


• Boost the immune system


• Improve mental focus


• Help control pain


• Create a feeling of well-being


• Reduce anxiety

This article uses the example of music to illustrate the real health benefits that can be found by paying attention to the energies that we surround ourselves with day-to-day. As has been shown time and time again, the state of our mind is reflected in our physical health. So it’s worth paying attention to any factors which may be influencing it – routines, habits, environmental factors and so on. With a little consideration, it’s likely that every person could identify things which are having a negative impact on their wellbeing; and also things that they could do to improve their state.