Music to Lower Blood Pressure
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Music may soothe the savage beast, but not all notes are created equal. This is according to German scientists who just completed a randomized controlled study on the effects of music upon your blood pressure.
A Mozart symphony, they discovered, can lower your blood pressure as much as exercising or even cutting salt from your diet. But the soothing effects did not carry over into pop music.
Or at least, Swedish pop music. The music of ABBA was shown to have no effect.
The following inclusion criteria were applied: the male or female participants aged between 25 and 75 years had to be cardiologically healthy (normal cardiological history, normal clinical findings, ECG and bloodpressure in the normal range) and had to be medication free. Normal blood pressure values were defined as measurements below 140/90 mm Hg. Subjects with known labile or stable arterial hypertension were excluded from the study. They published their work in Deutsches Arzteblatt International.
The systolic blood pressure – when the heart beats – of the subjects who listened to Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G Minor dropped by 4.7mm Hg. The diastolic pressure – when the heart rests between beats -- fell by 2.1mm Hg for Mozart.
The musical stylings of Benny, Frida, Agnetha and Björn showed zero or only very small effects on blood pressure and heart rate. The researchers think that perhaps the lyrics in the ABBA songs may have been a buzzkill for the the calming effect of the music.
Dances composed by Johann Strauss fared better than the pop, but not as well as the symphony by the Baroque master.
“It has been known for centuries that music has an effect on human beings. In antiquity, music was used to improve performance in athletes during the Olympic Games,” said lead author Hans-Joachim Trappe, of Ruhr University.
“In our study, listening to classical music resulted in lowered blood pressure and heart rate. These drops in blood pressure were clearly expressed for the music of Mozart and Strauss.
“The music of ABBA did not show any or only very small effects on blood pressure and heart rate. This may be due to emotional factors, but on the other hand the use of spoken words may have a negative role.”
The team determined that to be of benefit, music should be:
- in a pleasant key,
- of skillful composition,
- of a consistent volume and rhythm,
- devoid of rousing sequences, have no lyrics,
- and have achieved a certain degree of fame and popularity.
We're not sure where that will place our favorite speed metal band DragonForce, but we're hoping some researchers decide to find out soon...