Washington, April 13 (Inditop.com) Listening to music may benefit patients who suffer severe stress and anxiety associated with having and undergoing treatment for coronary heart disease (CHD).
A study found that listening to music could decrease blood pressure, heart rate and levels of anxiety in heart patients.
Living with heart disease is extremely stressful. The uncertainties and anxieties surrounding diagnosis and the various medical procedures involved in treatment can significantly worsen the condition.
For example, stress can increase blood pressure, leading to increased risk of complications. Music listening may help to alleviate stress and therefore reduce this risk.
“Our findings suggest music listening may be beneficial for heart disease patients,” says Joke Bradt, who works at the Arts and Quality of Life Research Centre at Temple University, Philadelphia.
The researchers reviewed data from 23 studies which together included 1,461 patients. Two studies focused on patients treated by trained music therapists, but most did not, using instead interventions where patients listened to pre-recorded music on CDs offered by healthcare professionals.
Listening to music provided some relief for CHD patients suffering from anxiety, by reducing heart rate and blood pressure.
There was also some indication that music listening improved mood, although no improvement was seen for patients suffering from depression due to the disease, said a Temple University release.
“We all know that music can impact on our emotions, our physiological responses, as well as our outlook on life, and this early research shows that it is well worth finding out more about how it could help heart disease patients.”
These findings were published in Cochrane Systematic Review.
