Human heart reacts differently to funny and sad music — cardiologists
Our heart reacts differently to funny and sad music. Doctors from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) studied the reaction of the human heart to various melodies. Moreover, they claim that certain melodies can treat cardiovascular diseases.
If you play the same melody to two people, then their hearts will react in completely different ways. Pioneering research by cardiologists has shown how music has an individual effect on the heart. According to doctors, this is the first and vital step to developing personalized musical recipes for the treatment of common diseases or in order to help people stay alert or, conversely, relaxed.
“We used accurate methods to record the response of the heart to music and found that what calms one person can cause another completely different reaction,” says Professor Elaine Chu of the French National Center for Scientific Research.
Previous studies of physiological responses to music measured changes in heart rate after listening to various recordings classified as “sad,” “happy,” “calm,” or “violent.”
This study used a more accurate approach. Three patients with mild heart failure who require a pacemaker were invited to a classical piano concert. Since they all wore a pacemaker, their heart rate could remain constant during the performance. The researchers measured the electrical activity of the heart directly from the pacemaker before and after those places where there were sharp changes in the tempo, volume or rhythm of the music.
In particular, they measured the time it takes the heart to recover from a fast heartbeat. “Heart rate affects this recovery time, so by keeping it constant, we could evaluate the electrical changes in the heart based on the emotional response to the music,” said Professor Chu.
The researchers found that changing the recovery time of the heart is significantly different from person to person at the same moments in the music. If the recovery time is reduced by 5 ms, this indicates increased stress or arousal. And if it is extended by 5 ms, then relaxation occurs.
A person who does not expect a transition from quiet to loud music can experience stress, which leads to a reduction in heart recovery time. For another person, this could be a solution for long-term growth in music and, consequently, for liberation, which led to an increase in the recovery time of the heart.
If you play the same melody to two people, then their hearts will react in completely different ways. Pioneering research by cardiologists has shown how music has an individual effect on the heart. According to doctors, this is the first and vital step to developing personalized musical recipes for the treatment of common diseases or in order to help people stay alert or, conversely, relaxed.
“We used accurate methods to record the response of the heart to music and found that what calms one person can cause another completely different reaction,” says Professor Elaine Chu of the French National Center for Scientific Research.
Previous studies of physiological responses to music measured changes in heart rate after listening to various recordings classified as “sad,” “happy,” “calm,” or “violent.”
This study used a more accurate approach. Three patients with mild heart failure who require a pacemaker were invited to a classical piano concert. Since they all wore a pacemaker, their heart rate could remain constant during the performance. The researchers measured the electrical activity of the heart directly from the pacemaker before and after those places where there were sharp changes in the tempo, volume or rhythm of the music.
In particular, they measured the time it takes the heart to recover from a fast heartbeat. “Heart rate affects this recovery time, so by keeping it constant, we could evaluate the electrical changes in the heart based on the emotional response to the music,” said Professor Chu.
The researchers found that changing the recovery time of the heart is significantly different from person to person at the same moments in the music. If the recovery time is reduced by 5 ms, this indicates increased stress or arousal. And if it is extended by 5 ms, then relaxation occurs.
A person who does not expect a transition from quiet to loud music can experience stress, which leads to a reduction in heart recovery time. For another person, this could be a solution for long-term growth in music and, consequently, for liberation, which led to an increase in the recovery time of the heart.
