Music is good for the heart

Listening to music that has a slow or meditative tempo has a relaxing effect on people, slowing their breathing and heart rate, whereas listening to fast music with a more upbeat tempo has the opposite effect - speeding up respiration and heart rate.

Previous research has shown that music can alleviate stress, improve athletic performance, improve movement in neurologically impaired patients with stroke or Parkinson's disease, and even boost milk production in cattle

Researchers from the University of Oxford, UK, monitored breathing rate, blood pressure and other heart and respiratory indexes, in 24 healthy young men and women, before and while listening to short excerpts of different kinds of music including slow and fast classical music of differing complexities and rap music. They also monitored the subjects during 2-minute musical intermissions. Half of the subjects were trained musicians; the other half had no musical training.

It was found that listening to music initially produced varying levels of arousal - accelerated breathing, increased blood pressure and heart rate - that is directly proportional to the tempo of the music and perhaps the complexity of the rhythm. The style of the music or an individual's music preference seemed less important than the tempo of the music. They also found that calm is induced by slower rhythms and, interestingly, by short pauses or intermissions in the music. Pausing the music for 2 minutes actually induces a condition of relaxation greater than that observed before subjects began listening to the music tracks.

These effects are most striking for people who have musical training, perhaps because they have learned to synchronize their breathing with the musical segments. Musicians breathe faster with faster tempi, and had slower baseline breathing rates than non-musicians. The researchers speculate that music may give pleasure and health benefits as a result of a controlled alteration between arousal and relaxation.

The appropriate selection of music - alternating fast and slower rhythms interspersed with pauses - can be used to induce relaxation and may, therefore, be beneficial in heart disease and stroke.