Tunes to soothe: The healing power of music
Roger Dobson
It's long been known that listening to music can ease stress – but scientists are discovering that it has a powerful effect on pain, immunity – and even recovery from heart attacks
The sound of piano music coming from the operating theatre was the first clue that something unusual was afoot. As the theatre doors swung open and the trolley was wheeled in, the patient was greeted by a smiling surgeon sitting at a piano playing "The More I See You".
ALAMY
Real soul music: Research has shown that 30 to 60 minutes of music a day can lower levels of pain and of blood pressure. It has also been found to improve respiration rates
As the surgeon played on, with random extracts from other piano works, the patient was sedated and prepared for surgery. With the patient and theatre team ready, the music finally stopped, and the surgeon stood up and began his day job.
The experiment in Hawaii, a world first, was testing whether music has an effect on health, pain and vital signs, such as blood pressure and heart and breathing rates, as well as levels of hormones and antibodies.
Meanwhile, a second team of researchers has found that music has a powerful effect on the immune system, boosting compounds that defend the body against infections.
Evidence is growing that music can have a beneficial effect for patients. Researchers have been looking for effects in conditions as varied as stroke, autism, heart problems, mental health, depression, pain, fractured limbs, Alzheimer's and lung disease. Piped music has been used to ease anxiety before operations, and harp music to reduce pain after surgery, with some research suggesting it can be as effective as the sedative Valium.
Listening to music has been found to aid recovery after a stroke and heart attack. A study of 60 men and women at Helsinki University found that patients who listened to music soon after having a stroke recovered better. Three months after the stroke, memory had improved by 60 per cent in those provided with music, compared to 29 per cent in a control group. Concentration, mood and attention to detail also improved in the music group by 17 per cent, compared to no change in the other.
Music has been found to ease chronic and acute pain, too. Research at Dongsan University in Korea on 40 patients with fractured legs showed that 30 to 60 minutes of music a day lowered levels of pain and of blood pressure, and also improved respiration rates.
Immunity, too, can benefit. South African researchers have successfully used Bach's Magnificat to benefit mood, boost the immune system and lower stress hormones in people undergoing physiotherapy for infectious lung disease.
Regularly listening can also lower high blood pressure. Patients who listened to 25 minute of music a day for four weeks lowered their blood pressure, while a control group who were played no music saw no change in their condition. After four weeks, the average drop for the music group in systolic blood pressure was 11.8 mmHg and for diastolic, 4.7 mmHg. There were no significant changes in the control group. "Music therapy may be an alternative for hypertension treatment," say the researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Some research suggests that not all music is effective. Tune and tempo have been found to be more important than melody, rhythm, harmony or timbre. Quick, pulsating rhythms and vigorous music have been shown to have a counter effect, triggering negative emotions.
So how exactly does the body derive health benefits from music? At one level, it may work simply as a distraction, taking the mind off the pain. When healthy people are exposed to experimental pain, as they were in research at Glasgow Caledonian University, they had greater tolerance to it when they were listening to their favourite music.
But distraction is not the only way in which symptoms are eased. One Finnish stroke-recovery study found that music is processed and handled in different parts of the brain, and one suggestion is that by holding the patient's attention, it stimulates nerve cells which go on to bypass the region damaged by the stroke.
One theory is that it works through the emotion circuitry of the brain, which has an effect on the production of key hormones, which in turn impact on body functions, from the repair of nerves to pain relief.
The latest research, by the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig and the University of Sussex, had provided new evidence about how music boosts the immune system.
The researchers carried out two studies looking at the effects of music on stress hormones. After exposing around 300 people to happy dance music, the researchers measured levels of immunoglobulin A or IgA and hormones including cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone.
Results show that cortisol levels dropped significantly, while IgA levels went up considerably in those exposed to music for around 50 minutes. Effects on compounds involved in inflammation and behaviour were also seen, and mood improved noticeably in those exposed to music.
These findings provide clues to the understanding the role of music in health. Cortisol is a hormone produced in response to stress and it increases blood pressure and blood sugar levels, and weakens the immune system. The drop in levels of the hormone in response to music may explain the reduction in blood pressure and risk of infections found by other researchers.
The rise in IgA is also an important finding because it is an antibody that plays an essential role in protecting the body against infections and allergens.
In some cases, music has been effective as drug therapy. At the Hospital Mutua de Terrassa, in Barcelona, doctors compared the effectiveness of music to that of diazepam or Valium in reducing anxiety before surgery in 207 patients. One group had the drug, while the other listened to music on the day and eve of surgery. Just before the operation, heart rate and blood pressure were tested, and there was no difference between the two groups.
Back at the University of Hawaii, patients undergoing ophthalmic surgery were brought in prior to being sedated, and the surgeon, a classically trained pianist, reeled off a medley of tunes, each played in a slow to medium tempo. Blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate were all much better in the music group patients compared to a control group.
"This is the first study on the effect of live classical piano music on the vital signs of patients," say the University of Hawaii doctors – who point out that the unusual presence of a piano in the operating theatre led to no side effects for the patients.