Does music have any effect on heart rate?

This article is a part of the internship I am doing under the Krsh Welfare Foundation .

ABSTRACT

People should incorporate healthy habits into their daily lives more, just like eating their greens to listening to Music. a study in Hong Kong showed a relationship between music and heart rate(HR). low tempo music can bring the HR down and fast beat and tempo can increase it. This experiment could compare all the music genres on changing the heart rate. Before that experiment, the hypothesis should be given. This is if rock music would be listened to by people then their heart rates will increase. Then they would be exposed to meditating music then their heart rate is supposed to go down.

All music genres affect heart rate. However, rock music has a greater impact than others. On the other hand, jazz and classical music decrease the heart rate. This experiment also proves one important fact for the medical world. Doctors could use this technique to help heart patients with their heart problems. On a regular day, people could also calm their hearts by listening to classical or jazz music. But if the process is done in an uncontrolled matter it shows different results.

INTRODUCTION

Music has power beyond our imagination, it may be a collection of tunes, harmonies and melodies, but it can do more than it seems. it can modulate emotions which indirectly modulates heart rate activity. It controls the hypothalamus, amygdala, and insular cortex at a stretch. Effects of emotions affect the heart activity in several ways, such as- the cardiac nerve plexus, autonomic and endocrine pathways, blood pressure (BP), and blood gases. While listening to music heart rate fluctuates constantly, which is known as heart rate variability.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

Our research objective was to explore the effect of soothing music (low-intensity music/meditation) as opposed to high-intensity (rock) music on an individual’s heart rate.

LITERATURE SURVEY

Studies on the effects of music on the heart have often yielded inconsistent results. These inconsistencies (in both healthy and clinical study groups) are probably due to the use of very inhomogeneous methods and musical stimuli used across studies. The impact of music and music tempo on human heart rate. It has been speculated that passive music listening induces arousal resulting from focused attention, similar to the effect of reading silently (Bernardi et al., 2000; Haas, Distenfeld, & Axen, 1986). In the case of silence, arousal is released and the subject is left in a state of relaxation. Also, in neuroscientific research, it has been suggested that the initial autonomic and cardiovascular responses to music reflect an arousal response. fMRI and PET studies have demonstrated activation or deactivation of multiple brain regions during music stimulation, including areas of central autonomic control (Spyer, 1999), such as the ventral medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, insula, and amygdala, depending on the level of arousal, which is in turn associated with a music excerpt (Altenmuller, Schurmann, Lim, & Parlitz; Blood &Zatorre, 2001; Koelsch, Fritz, Cramon, Müller, & Friederici, 2006). (Esin Soyer, 18).

The anxiety-reducing effects of music are probably also associated with (small) reductions in BP. In addition, music has been used in hypertensive patients to lower BP by guiding slow and regular breathing. Such effects of music on BP are consistent with meta-analytic data indicating (small) reductions of RR and BP in patients due to music interventions. In various experiments, subjects reported that they successfully differentiated the expressive tasks from the non-expressive tasks. The expressive tasks thus clearly had higher levels of valence and arousal than the non-expressive tasks. The performance also provided them with a higher level of valence and arousal than listening, indicating that performance was more effective in motion induction. Depression is more common in patients with CVD (Cardio Vascular Disease) such as stroke, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and myocardial infarction. Since several studies have demonstrated that pleasant music can activate the reward system (including the mesolimbic dopaminergic reward pathway) music might also be useful in treating depression and CVD associated with depression. However, the evidence for the beneficial effects of music therapy in the treatment of depression is surprisingly weak, calling for more research in this area, in particular with regard to depression-related CVD.

METHODS

The subject was a female in her late teen( 19 years old); during the time of the experiment, she was physically well and mentally stable too. The experiment was a Psycho-Physical experiment and it was done under the supervision of skilled professionals. The heart rate measurement was taken in three conditions:

• Condition 1: Baseline heart rate was measured before the introduction of any stimuli.
• Condition 2: Introduction of meditating music followed by the measurement of heart rate.
• Condition 3: Introduction of rock music followed by measurement of heart rate.

TOOLS

▪ Headphone,

▪ Heart rate monitor,

▪ Mobile phones as the source of music and

▪ Timer. PROCEDURE

The songs were chosen by the faculty to avoid any personal connection/biases in the experiment.

1. At first, the baseline heart rate of the subject was measured while the subject was sitting in a relaxed position.
2. Then meditation/soothing music was introduced to the subject via noise-cancelling headphones. The song was “Tibetan Monks chanting Om for deep meditation and spiritual awakening” and it was played for the next 4 minutes.
3. Followed by a heart rate measurement.
4. A break of 1 min was provided so that the subject can shift to the next condition smoothly.
5. Then the subject was introduced to high-intensity music or a rock song named “Better Days” by Bruce Springsteen and the song was again played for 4 minutes.
6. Followed by the heart rate measurement.

DATA COLLECTION

Baseline heart rate 85

After listening to meditating music 90

After listening to rock music 89

RESULTS

Through the data represented above, it can be observed how a particular kind of music affected the subject’s heart rate. The heart rate of the subject was 85 when no musical stimulus was exposed to her and it was considered as the baseline heart rate so that comparison can be done after the exposure of any stimulus. After 4 minutes exposure to meditating/low-intensity music brought up the heart rate from 85 to 90 which may mean that meditating music made the subject anxious. And after the exposure of high intensity/rock music for 4 minutes again, the heart rate deteriorated to 89.

CONCLUSION

Last but not least to say, music plays a huge part in our lives, whether exercising to high-tempo music to listening to calm soothing music while studying. Many students and professionals use music to focus on work or studies. Nonetheless, music therapy is also very famous in autism spectrum therapies. The world of harmony and rhythm still amazes us to this day.

REFERENCES

1. Music structure determines heart rate variability of singer(Björn Vickhoff1*, Helge Malmgren2 , Rickard Åström3 , Gunnar Nyberg4 , Seth-Reino Ekström5 , Mathias Engwall6 , Johan Snygg7 , Michael Nilsson1,8 and Rebecka Jörnsten9)
2. The neurosciences,And music III Disorders and plasticity(Simone dalla bella, Nina Kraus, Katie overy, Christo pantev, Gottfried schlaug; 360)
3. European Heart Journal (Vol 36;Issue-14;Pages 3043–3049;Date-November 21, 2015)
4. Revisiting the Relationship Between Exercise Heart Rate and Music Tempo Preference(Costas I. Karageorghis, Leighton Jones, David-Lee Priest, Rose I. Akers, Adam Clarke, Jennifer M. Perry; Pages 274–284; Published online: 23 Jan 2013)
5. The impact of music and music tempo on human heart rate Adopting a music-to-heart rate alignment strategy to measure the impact of music and music tempo on human heart rate; (Esin Soyer; Date 2017/01/01)
6. Effects of music during exercise on RPE, heart rate and the autonomic nervous system; Yamashita, Shuhei Iwai, K, Akimoto, Takayuki, Sugawara, Jun, Kono, Ichiro; The Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness; vol-46; P-425–30; Date October 1. 2006)
7. Impact of music on heart(Tengiz Rustamkhanli, Mrs. Scott;Writing- 2;17/04/2014)