Listening To Yoga Music At Bedtime Reduces Anxiety, Boosts Heart Health

June 22, 2023; Unhurry Expert Research Team

June 21 was International Yoga Day. All of this week, we are celebrating the positive impact of yoga on mental health. All our research articles and features will bring you these scientific insights.

Listening to yoga music at bedtime is good for the heart, according to research.

Dr Naresh Sen, study author, Consultant Cardiologist at HG SMS Hospital, Jaipur, India, said: “We use music therapy in our hospital and in this study, we showed that yoga music has a beneficial impact on heart rate variability before sleeping.”

Previous studies have demonstrated that listening to music can help heart disease patients feel less anxious. Studies on the impact of music on the heart in sick and healthy people, however, have yielded conflicting results, in part because they did not specify the type of music employed.

Heart rate variability and cardiovascular risk

As a typical reaction to being in “fight or flight” or “rest and digest” mode, the body’s heart rate fluctuates. The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, which together make up the autonomic nervous system, control these states. The heart can adjust to these fluctuations, as evidenced by a high heart rate variability. Low heart rate variability, on the other hand, denotes a less flexible autonomic nervous system.

A first cardiovascular incident is 32–45% more likely when there is low heart rate variability. People with poor heart rate variability are more likely to experience additional cardiovascular incidents and die after experiencing one. Inflammation, which is connected to cardiovascular disease, may be brought on by the autonomic nervous system’s inability to adapt. Another theory is that those who have little heart rate variability already have cardiovascular disease in the subclinical stage.

Music and heart rate variability

This study examined the effects of yoga music, a sort of calming or contemplative music, on heart rate variability before bedtime. 149 healthy participants in the study took part in three sessions on different nights: (1) yoga music before sleep; (2) pop music with consistent beats; and (3) no music or silence before sleep.

Heart rate variability was monitored during each session for five minutes before to the commencement of the music or silence, ten minutes during the music or silence, and five minutes after it had ended. The Goldberg Anxiety Scale was also used to measure anxiety levels before and after each session. After each session, the degree of happiness was rated subjectively using a visual analogue scale. The participants were 26 years old on average.

Anxiety levels reduce by listening to yoga music

The scientists discovered that heart rate variability increased while listening to yoga music, reduced while listening to mainstream music, and remained relatively unchanged while listening to quiet.

The yoga music significantly reduced anxiety levels, pop music dramatically increased anxiety levels, and no music significantly increased anxiety levels. Following the yoga music, participants reported feeling noticeably happier than they did following the pop music.

Dr. Sen stated that complementary therapies like music should only be used as an addition to evidence-based medications and practises.

He said: “Science may have not always agreed, but Indians have long believed in the power of various therapies other than medicines as a mode of treatment for ailments. This is a small study, and more research is needed on the cardiovascular effects of music interventions offered by a trained music therapist. But listening to soothing music before bedtime is a cheap and easy-to-implement therapy that cannot cause harm.”

Story Source:

Materials provided by the European Society of Cardiology. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Page citation:

European Society of Cardiology. “Listening to yoga music at bedtime is good for the heart.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 August 2018. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180827080852.htm>.

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