Music Helps the Heart

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Besides its ability to soothe the savage beast, music has the power to reduce stress, boost athletic performance and enhance motor skills of people with neurological impairments. Italian researchers now find that blood flow and respiratory rates can synchronize with music, indicating that music could one day be a therapeutic tool for blood pressure control and stroke rehabilitation.

Researchers found music induces physiological changes that may precede the psychological appreciation. Such autonomic modulations could be of practical use in treating vascular and coronary disease.

"Music induces a continuous, dynamic — and to some extent predictable — change in the cardiovascular system," Luciano Bernardi, M.D., lead researcher of the study and professor of Internal Medicine at Pavia University in Pavia, Italy was quoted as saying. "It is not only the emotion that creates the cardiovascular changes, but this study suggests that also the opposite might be possible, that cardiovascular changes may be the substrate for emotions, likely in a bi-directional way."

Researchers studied 24 healthy Caucasians aged 24 to 26 years, with 12 experienced singers (of whom nine were women) and 12 participants who had no musical training (seven were women). Study participants were fitted with headphones and were attached to monitors to measure blood pressure, cerebral artery flow, respiration and narrowing of blood vessels on the skin. Five random tracks of classical music were played, as well as two minutes of silence.

Researchers found that every crescendo (gradual volume increase) led to narrowing of blood vessels under the skin, increased blood pressure and heart rate and increased respiration amplitude. In each music track the extent of the effect was proportional to the change in music profile.

During the silent pause, blood vessels under the skin dilated and heart rate and blood pressure showed marked reductions. Music phrases around 10 seconds long synchronized inherent cardiovascular rhythm, thus modulating cardiovascular control.

"The profile of music (crescendo or decrescendo) is continuously tracked by the cardiovascular and respiratory systems," Bernardi said. "This is particularly evident when music is rich in emphasis, like in operatic music. These findings increase our understanding of how music could be used in rehabilitative medicine."

"What we are learning from the present and previous study is that alternating between fast and slow music may be potentially more effective," Bernardi said.

Among the study's limitations, there were only 24 subjects, all of whom were similar in age, education and ethnicity. Different responses might have come from older subjects, or subjects accustomed to different styles of music, said researchers, who used only few well-known tracks by a small number of classical composers.

SOURCE: Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, June 22, 2009