Can music have a positive impact on physical health?

Music has long been recognised as being beneficial to both mental and physical health, with evidence to suggest that even as far back as the Ancient Greeks. Even Pythagoras himself was known to use musical modes and scales to cure ailments. And more recently, many tribal cultures are known to use music as form of medicine as found by Merriam, A.P 1964.

While it brings all the incredible benefits we highlighted in our mental health blog, like elevate mood, relieve depression symptoms and stimulate memories, it is also shown to improve blood flow, ease pain, improve exercise tolerance and help with healthier eating habits.

Musical therapies began being recognised following the first and second World Wars, where trained musicians performed in hospitals and it was found that patients showed positive physical and emotional responses. The medical fields of today are relative newbies by comparison. That said, Powell, 2017 highlights that over the last 70 years, scientists have been researching the benefits of music on both our brains and bodies. According to Bradt & Dileo, 2009 listening to music can reduce the heart rate, blood pressure and anxiety in heart disease patients while Rebecchini, 2021 points out it can be useful in boosting our immunity.

So, how does it do these things? Well in short, it’s all to do with hormone production. As your high school Biology teacher will confirm, the body is made up of around 70% water, but slushing around beside it is a number of chemicals and hormones which help keep our bodies in balance. Music has been shown to affect the production of certain hormones, depending on what type of music you are listening to.  It has been found that calming relaxing music decreases cortisol (the stress production hormone) whilst boosting serotonin and endorphin levels which helps to reduce heart rate, lower blood pressure and relieves tension. On the other hand faster higher tempo music can achieve the opposite effect.

Ever taken a long drive in the dead of night after a hard day grafting? Then you’ll know that cranking up the tunes and winding the window down not only has a devastating effect on that slick hair style, but it also helps wake you up and improve concentration. Studies show that music can help reduce brain fatigue and improve muscle endurance when you are performing repetitive tasks. In short, music helps divert your brain from the feelings of fatigue.

You might be the type of person that jumps out of bed in the morning and find yourself in a spin class before the sun has even had the chance to splash on the front lawn or maybe you prefer to end your day by bench pressing the weight of a Vintage Fifteen. Either way it’s likely you do it to some of your favourite “get up and go” tunes. Most athletes or exercise enthusiasts will tell you that listening to their favourite sounds helps them get through their workout and there is good reason for it too, research has shown that it not only reduces their perception of fatigue but helps their bodies work more effectively too.

There are thought to be around 1.6 million people per year who access music as a therapy and around 26,000 therapists in the USA alone. Music therapy has been shown to effectively heighten pain tolerance, tension and improve heart rate and blood pressure according to a study by Hoffer, Avirett, Bocharski & Da Costa, 2022. While in palliative care, post operatively and in geriatric medicine, music has been known to help with the perception of pain. Over 97 studies into pain and music have shown it can help both acute and chronic pain better than medicine alone.