Music and your health.

"If music be the food of love, play on" 

                                                           

                                 (William Shakespeare)

When we read that we are bound to agree. Music has been an integral part of most civilizations and still is. Mankind has used music in so many ways; to entertain, to express emotions and get feelings across, to heal and recover, to relax and meditate, and to learn or record facts and history to name a few.

Music is like the soundtrack of our lives. How often we hear a song and can right away be transported to another time, another place where we heard it first or where it impacted us. How often has music brightened up our mood or helped us relax. How many times has music brought so many together, that is why it is the universal language. It is clear that we need music in our lives,  “Without music, life would be a mistake.” as Friedrich Nietzsche concluded.

Over the decades, countless studies and continued research work has repeatedly supported the belief that music can be more than just food for the soul, it can have real beneficial effects on our overall health and well-being. Here are some of those benefits:

Physical benefits

Pain:
According to a study published in Frontiers of Psychology, scientists found that listening to music that is relaxing, highly pleasant, familiar, and self-chosen, reduced pain and increase functional mobility in fibromyalgia patients.

Endurance:
British researchers studied 12 healthy male college students riding stationary bikes while listening to six different songs of their choosing, each with a different tempo. It was observed that not only their pedaling speed changed along with the tempo of the music so did their overall affect. As tempo slowed, they slowed the pedaling, their heart rate decreased, breathing slowed and mileage fell. But as music tempo increased so did their pedaling speed, heart rate, distance covered and showed reduced exertion. Hence the conclusion 'healthy individuals performing submaximal exercise not only worked harder with faster music but also chose to do so and enjoyed the music more when it was played at a faster tempo."
In another study, researchers had 20 moderately active adults (22±4 y), unfamiliar with interval exercise, complete an acute session of SIT(Sprint Interval training) under two different conditions: music and no music. Leading to the conclusion ' Music enhanced in-task performance and enjoyment of an acute bout of SIT.'

Post-exercise recovery:
After a workout music not only helps relax, it also helps the body recover faster. A study published in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research showed beneficial effect of both music and rhythm was greater toward the end of the recovery period. Results suggest that listening to music during non structured recovery can be used by professional athletes to enhance recovery from intense exercise.


Sleep:
A study showed classical music to improve the quality of sleep in individuals with poor sleep. Relaxing classical music can thus be used to help alleviate insomnia instead of sleep inducing medications.


Eating Habits:
A recent study found that with softening of the music and lighting while eating, diners end up eating less and enjoying the food more, suggesting that a more relaxed environment increases satisfaction and decreases consumption.

Blood Flow:
Previous studies have demonstrated that music may influence physiologic parameters such as heart rate and blood pressure. A study of the effect of music on endothelial function showed an increased blood flow and a happier mood.


Mental Benefits

Stress:
Over the past years, music has been increasingly used as a therapeutic tool in the treatment of different diseases in healthy and ill subjects over recent years (e.g., the so called "Mozart effect"). Music has been found to lead to release of biochemical measurable stress-reducing effects in some individuals. Some kinds of music have also been known to cause changes in cardiac and neurological functions.
It has also been seen that music helps individuals perform better under pressure if listening to music. Such a study involving basketball players known to choke under pressure, showed improved performance by the same players when listening to upbeat music and lyrics.


Meditation:
Music has been found to cause actual change in brainwave. Researchers found that most music combines many different frequencies that cause a complex set of reactions in the brain, but researchers say specific pieces of music could enhance concentration or promote relaxation.

Mood:
A study found arousal and mood regulation to be the most important dimension of music listening closely followed by self-awareness.

Cognitive function:
Research has shown that upbeat music improves the efficiency and accuracy in performance of workers on assembly lines or quality-control operators. It helps them to stay focused on their work even though what they’re doing is not necessarily interesting, and attention would normally fade over time.

Anxiety:
When used in conjunction with conventional cancer treatments, music therapy has been found to help patients promote a better quality of life; better communicate their fear, sadness, or other feelings; and better manage stress, while alleviating physical pain and discomfort.

Patients:
There is sufficient practical evidence that listening to music while resting in bed after open heart surgery can reduce patients' stress level. Therefore it is recommended that music intervention be offered as an integral part of the multimodal regime offered to patients after cardiovascular surgery. It is a supportive source that increases relaxation. Music is also effective in under conditions and music can be utilized as an effective intervention for patients with depressive symptoms, geriatrics and in pain, intensive care or palliative medicine. However,  music used should be carefully selected incorporating a patient's own preferences to offer an effective method to reduce anxiety and to improve quality of life. The most benefit on health is seen in classic music, meditation music whereas heavy metal music or technosounds are even ineffective or dangerous and will lead to stress and/or life threatening arrhythmias.


References:
5 Science-Backed Reasons Why Music is Good for You (Health- Nov 11, 2014)
20 surprising, science-backed health benefits of music (USA Today- Dec 17, 2013)

Music reduces pain and increases functional mobility in fibromyalgia (Frontiers of Psychology- Feb 11, 2014)

Effects of music tempo upon submaximal cycling performance. (Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports- Aug 2010)

Music Enhances Performance and Perceived Enjoyment of Sprint Interval Exercise. (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise- Sep 8, 2014)
Effect of Rhythm on the Recovery From Intense Exercise (Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research- April 2013) 
Music improves sleep quality in students. (Journal of Advanced Nursing- May 2008)
Fast Food Restaurant Lighting and Music can reduce Calorie intake and increase Satisfaction
(Psychological Reports- Aug 2012) 
Positive Emotions and the Endothelium: Does Joyful Music Improve Vascular Health? (Circulation- 2008)
From music-beat to heart-beat: a journey in the complex interactions between music, brain and heart. (European Journal of Internal Medicine-Aug 2011)
Alleviating Choking: The Sounds of Distraction (Journal of Applied Sport Psychology- April 2009)
Symposium looks at therapeutic benefits of musical rhythm
 (Stanford News Service- May 2013)

The psychological functions of music listening (Frontiers in Psychology- May 24, 2013)

Music therapy in a comprehensive cancer center. (Journal of the Society of Integrative Oncology- Spring 2008)
Music and health--what kind of music is helpful for whom? What music not? (Published in a German Medical Journal- Dec 2009)

Fats are not the enemy

Allison Aubrey presented a case for adding some fat to our diets on  NPR's Morning Edition as few weeks back.

Fats have been the target of most of the popular dietary plans. They are looked upon as the enemy to any healthy lifestyle. But is that justifiable and right?

It is well documented that saturated fats can raise the LDL ( Low-density lipoprotein)in the blood, which is the so-called bad cholesterol. Whereas on the other end, plant-based fats such as those found in nuts and olive oil are actually beneficial to our heart health and can help reduce the risk of heart disease. Yet it seems the risks might be more then the benefits, leading most of us to minimize fats intake whenever trying to eat healthy.

Thus the task of  convincing most of us to bring some ats back into our diets is a tough one.
Here is an excerpts of what experts had to say to Allison Aubrey on the subject;

"Fat was really the villain," says , who is chairman of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. And, by default, people "had to load up on carbohydrates."
But, by the mid-1990s, Willett says, there were already signs that the high-carb, low-fat approach might not lead to fewer heart attacks and strokes. He had a long-term study underway that was aimed at evaluating the effects of diet and lifestyle on health.
"We were finding that if people seemed to replace saturated fat — the kind of fat found in cheese, eggs, meat, butter — with carbohydrate, there was no reduction in heart disease," Willett says.
Willett submitted his data to a top medical journal, but he says the editors would not publish his findings. His paper was turned down.
"There was a lot of resistance to anything that would question the low-fat guidelines," Willett says, especially the guidelines on saturated fat.
Willett's was eventually published by a British medical journal, the BMJ, in 1996.

But here's where it gets interesting: "We've learned that carbohydrates aren't neutral," explains , an epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School.
"[Carbs] were the base of the pyramid," says Mozaffarian. The message was "eat all carbohydrates you want."
Americans took this as a green light to eat more refined grains such as breads, processed snack foods and white pasta.
"But carbohydrates worsen glucose and insulin — they have negative effects on blood cholesterol levels," he says. The thinking that it's OK to swap saturated fats for these refined carbs "has not been useful advice."
He says it's clear that saturated fats can raise LDL cholesterol, the bad cholesterol. But that's only one risk factor for heart disease.
There's now evidence that — compared with carbs — saturated fat can raise HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol) and lower trigylcerides in the blood, which are both countering effects to heart disease, he says.
"When you put all of this together," says Mozaffarian, what you see is that saturated fat has a relatively neutral effect compared with carbs. He says it's "not a beneficial effect but not a harmful effect. And I think that's what the recent studies show." He points to a of studies published in 2010.
He also points to a highly publicized that concludes there's no convincing evidence to support the dietary recommendations to limit saturated fat.
The in that paper have created quite a bit of controversy. For instance, the American Heart Association it stands by its recommendations to limit saturated fat.


Although these new points of view don't say 'Go ahead and load up on fats' they do make it clear that fats should not be excluded from our diets completely. Maybe moderation is a good way to go with all diets. 

 
References:
Rethinking Fat: The Case For Adding Some Into Your Diet (NPR)

 

Anger really harmful to cardiovascular health

We all lose our temper from time to time, and it never feels good. An angry outburst is almost always leaves on exhausted, unhappy and feeling drained. We've all been told a bad temper and anger are bad for us at some point in our life.
Now a research study conducted at the Harvard School of Public Health, has found that the risk of a heart attack or stroke is much higher for about two hours immediately following an angry outburst. The risk for a heart attack is increased almost five-folds, whereas the risk is increased two-folds for stroke. This finding is more consistent in individuals with preexisting risk factors.
According to the researchers, 'At a population level, the risk with a single outburst of anger is relatively low - one extra heart attack per 10,000 people per year could be expected among people with low cardiovascular risk who were angry only once a month, increasing to an extra four per 10,000 people with a high cardiovascular risk. But the risk is cumulative, meaning temper-prone individuals will be at higher risk still.'

It is not exactly clear how anger causes the increased risk, but a constant rise in stress level might be significant. Chronic stress is known to lead to high blood pressure which itself is a risk factor for heart diseases. Use of alcohol consumption or smoking for relieving the stress might further exacerbate that risk. Yet, further research is required to fully understand how anger could lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular events and what steps might successfully abate that risk.

This study involved the data analysis of nine studies in which anger and cardiovascular events were self-reported over a period of two decades. It was published in the European Heart Journal on March 3rd, 2014.


P.S: 
References:

Angry people 'risking heart attacks' (BBC World- Health 03/03/14)

Angry outbursts may raise heart attack, stroke risk (CNN Health 03/03/14)