Musical Cares

A well-loved piece of music is for many of us a necessary part of unwinding after a long day or simply enhancing a blissfully unencumbered one. No scientific prognostication is necessary for us to understand the power of music to reach into our core, and to elevate our emotional state of being.

It turns out that there's another verse in the song that sings the praises of music's power to make us feel better. Actually, physically, make us feel better.

(Cue the tympani and the trumpet section!)

In a study published in the American Heart Association's Journal Circulation and featured in Scientific American, distinct physiological responses in the circulatory system are observed and described in test subjects monitored while listening to music. Study author Luciano Bernardi from Italy's University of Pavia points to the observed capacity for music-listening to aid the regulation of blood pressure and breathing and heart rates.

Further, Bernardi's study noted cardiovascular response to particular types of musical passages. Building, crescendo-heavy passages are noted to induce an increase in blood pressure and elevation in heart rate. Less dramatic passages witnessed the subjects' cardiovascular rates steadying and, remarkably, synchronizing with the musical passage.

These findings of a possible predictable, controllable physiological response may have therapeutic implications. Innovative approaches to treatment could someday have stroke and cardiac patients whistling a new and happy tune.