Music to Your Heart
Reported November 14, 2008
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — We often say certain sounds are like music to our ears. Researchers now believe they may be music to our hearts as well.
In a new study conducted among ten healthy volunteers, they found listening to enjoyable music significantly increased the dilation of blood vessels. Compared to baseline readings, the average upper arm blood vessel diameter increased by 26 percent after the participants listened to their favorite tunes. By contrast, when study subjects were asked to listen to music they didnt like, their blood vessels actually contracted.
Country music most often brought on these positive changes, but the investigators believe any music a person enjoys would probably have the same effect.
How does listening to enjoyable music help relax the blood vessels? The researchers chalk the finding up to a physiological reaction involving brain chemicals called endorphins that are known to have positive effects in the body.
The study, which builds on previous research showing laughter can also be good for cardiovascular health, has lead the authors to believe simple things can promote heart health.
Needless to say, these results were music to my ears because they signal another preventive strategy that we may incorporate in our daily lives to promote heart health, study author Michael Miller, M.D., director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center and associate professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, was quoted as saying.
SOURCE: Presented at the Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association in New Orleans, La. November 8-12, 2008