Heart
Rhythms Helped with Music Therapy
Tempo may be key to how well music soothes the savage
breast - meaning an Irish jig and a Debussy nocturne may not be created
equal when it comes to improving well-being.
New research shows that slow music produces a relaxing
effect, while musical pauses further modulate heart rhythms and circulation
patterns in a beneficial way, according to a report in Heart,
a British Medical Journal publication.
The effects were most striking for those people
who have musical training.
Calm music with a slow tempo can [affect] respiration
to produce slower breathing, says Dr. Peter Sleight, study author and
a researcher at the University of Oxford in England.
Slower breathing has been linked to lower blood
pressure and may help the lungs work more efficiently.
For their new research, Dr. Sleight and his colleagues
investigated physiologic responses to six different types of music
in 12 musicians and 12 non-musicians.
The music selections consisted of raga (Indian classical
music), Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (slow classical), rap (Red Hot Chili
Peppers), Vivaldi (fast classical), techno, and Anton Webern (slow,
dodecaphonic music).
Each participant listened to different sequences
of music for two minutes at a stretch, followed by the same selection
for four minutes. The sequences included a two-minute pause.
Music with faster tempos and simpler rhythmic structures
resulted in increased ventilation, blood pressure, and heart rate,
the researchers found.
When the music was paused, heart rate, blood pressure,
and ventilation decreased, sometimes even below the starting rate.
Slower music caused declines in heart rate, with
the largest decline seen with raga music.
The pause effect occurred regardless of the type
of music but was stronger among musicians, who are already trained
to measure their breathing with the music.
Overall, a person's musical preference was less
important than the music's pace, the researchers say.
"Stress has its impact on cardiovascular disease," says
Dr. Vincent Marchello, a physician at Metropolitan Jewish Health System. "Music
can not only reduce stress, but it can enhance the therapy that one
gets."
Earlier research has shown that reading rhythmic
poetry like Homer's The Odyssey aloud can
synchronize the body's heart and respiration rates.
Similar positive effects have been linked to the
Catholic rosary prayer and the yoga mantra. Indeed, Dr. Sleight's team
has published similar effects from yoga and repetitive prayer.
Music, also, has been shown to have beneficial properties
including reducing stress, improving athletic performance, and enhancing
motor function in people with neurological impairments.
Up until now, however, there had been no comprehensive
comparisons of how different types of music and the way in which they
are presented might affect autonomic (involuntary), cardiovascular,
and respiratory functioning.
The authors also speculate that different types
of music could play a role in modulating (affecting the rate and quality
of) breathing in a medical setting.
In some settings, music already plays such a role:
Dr. Marchello's staff uses music to successfully calm the behavior
of agitated Alzheimer's patients.
And
in the post-surgery cardiac rehabilitation ward, Dr. Marchello says, "Music
can improve rehab therapy sessions and can make the therapy sessions
more efficient and shorten the time needed
to get better."
In
such cases, however, age and preference may make a difference. Elderly
cardiac patients typically respond to light "muzak" and
classical music, while those 55 to 60 years old seem to benefit from
slightly faster music, Dr. Marchello notes.
"What you're trying to do is make therapy time more
efficient and maybe have longer sessions," says Dr. Marchello. "Music
is one thing we do to motivate patients. It has to be what they prefer."
Always consult your physician for more information.
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