Alternative Health Blog

Sometimes common sense and science can synchronize like the music and lyrics in a favorite song. In fact, new research from Italy—where else?—shows that music itself might actually be able to help control blood flow and breathing rates to improve heart health by reducing blood pressure problems and preventing or recovering from strokes.

The Italian researchers discovered the power of music begins at a physiological level even before we emotionally appreciate a song.

"Music induces a continuous, dynamic and to some extent predictable change in the cardiovascular system," wrote Dr. Luciano Bernardi, lead researcher of the study and professor of internal medicine at Pavia University in Pavia, Italy. "It is not only the emotion that creates the cardiovascular changes, but this study suggests that also the opposite might be possible, that cardiovascular changes may be the substrate for emotions, likely in a bi-directional way."

Score one for iPods.

Other research indicates music can help reduce stress, improve athletic performance and enhance motor skills of people suffering from nerve impairment. The Italian study opens up a new frontier for the therapeutic potency of music by connecting that our bodies physiologically follow along with music’s crescendos (the gradual rise of volume) by narrowing blood vessels and increasing blood pressure, heart rate and breathing. As music decrescendos or goes into silent pauses, blood vessels under the skin dilate and blood pressure and heart rate are significantly reduced.

On top of that, music segments that last about 10 seconds long will act to sort of stabilize the body’s cardiovascular rhythm.

The Italian researchers evaluated two dozen young adults, half of whom were trained singers and other half not musically educated. The volunteers listened to the five random tracks of classical music through headphones, along with two minutes of silence. The study was published in the professional journal Circulation this month.