By: Ciccotti Staff
Any time you have a stressful or overwhelming moment, it’s possible for your heartbeat to rise. Music can be a therapeutic tool you can use to ease pain, anxiety and even depression. A recent study in Scientific Reports even suggests music therapy could make high blood pressure medication more effective.
Music can also be an important component of exercise, which is one of the most effective ways to support cardiac health. In an article by the American Heart Association, Dr. David Alter, who studies the use of music in promoting cardiac health says, “We know that exercise is a game changer in terms of survival, longevity and quality of life, I don’t think those are governed directly by the music, but music can help us with those healthy lifestyle choices and behaviors, and they improve our heart function.”
Find the right tunes to charge up a workout, then play a more soothing tune to ease into a good night’s sleep.
Joanne Loewy, director of the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in New York City says, “The rhythms of music, can influence breathing, which also affects heart function. Besides the benefits of lowering stress breathing and heart rates go hand in hand. We know if we can slow the pulmonary function and have stronger inhalations where more oxygen is absorbed in the blood, we’ll have better cardiac outcomes.”
Preliminary findings by the American College of Cardiology revealed people with episodes of chest pain soon after a heart attack who listened to music for 30 minutes a day over seven years reported less anxiety and chest pain – and had a lower rate of cardiac death – than those who did not.
For more information, about music’s effects on your heart health, please refer to the references below.
Reference:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-19418-7
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