Music and the Heart

Music and the heart

Musical performance leads to a higher effect on cardiac autonomic nerve activity than music perception. Greater levels of heart rate and low frequency components of heart rate variability were noted during performance rather than perception of music in a study from Japan, conducted on 13 elite pianists [1].

Another study was conducted on forty patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting and / or aortic valve replacement. The methods used to assess relaxation on the post operative day were plasma oxytocin levels, heart rate, mean arterial blood pressure, PaO2, SaO2 and subjective relaxation levels. Oxytocin levels were significantly higher in the group allocated to listening music. Subjective relaxation levels and PaO2 levels were also higher in this group. No difference was noted in the mean arterial pressure, heart rate or SaO2 between the groups. The author suggested that music should be included as part of the multimodal regime for post cardiac surgery patients. The study was from Orebro University Hospital and School of Health, Sweden [2]. The same author in another report mentioned that s-cortisol levels were lower in those post cardiac surgery patients who listened to music, indicating lower stress levels [3].

A systematic review published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews evaluated the role of music for the reduction of stress and anxiety in patients with coronary artery disease. By an extensive search strategy, they identified twenty three trials with a total of 1461 participants which could be included for the analysis. Twenty one of the studies did not use a trained music therapist for the intervention. Though there was a moderate reduction in the anxiety of patients with coronary artery disease, the results were not consistent across the various studies. The benefits noted were reduction in heart rate, respiratory rate and blood pressure. But the review failed to identify strong evidence for reduction of psychological distress. The authors concluded that most studies evaluated the effect of pre-recorded music and hence the effects of music offered by a trained music therapist needs to be evaluated further.

References

1. Nakahara H, Furuya S, Obata S, Masuko T, Kinoshita H. Emotion-related changes in heart rate and its variability during performance and perception of music. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2009;1169:359-62.
2. Nilsson U. Soothing music can increase oxytocin levels during bed rest after open-heart surgery: a randomised control trial. J Clin Nurs. 2009;18:2153-61.
3. Nilsson U. Heart Lung. 2009 May-Jun;38(3):201-7.
4. Bradt J, Dileo C. Music for stress and anxiety reduction in coronary heart disease patients. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2009 Apr 15;(2):CD006577.