How music could improve your health
This week: Music is as calming as anxiety pills
PATIENTS listening to music before a procedure felt the same sense of calm as those given the anti-anxiety drug midazolam, according to a study from the University of Pennsylvania.
"Music reduces the body’s stress response, but it’s unclear whether it does this by reducing the hormone cortisol, or by slowing the heart rate to match the tempo," says Dr Elizabeth Coombes, music therapist at the University of South Wales. She says any slow song you know well could calm you.
In the study, published in the journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine in 2019, 157 patients either listened to the song Weightless by Marconi Union, which was developed with sound therapists and claims to be the most relaxing song, or were given the drug. Their anxiety levels were measured before and after.
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