# Music is good for the heart!



## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Interesting article from CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/11/music.heart/index.html


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## JoeGreen (Nov 17, 2008)

Heh, well cheers to everybody here then, we'll all be living well into our 120's


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## Lisztfreak (Jan 4, 2007)

Yeah, that's why my mithral valves are swollen, I'm not listening to enough music... right.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

I don't buy into what the news media says too often, especially all the major networks like FoxNews, CNN, MSNBC, etc.

As far as music being good for your heart, I doubt it. My Grandmother loved music, but she had heart problems most of her life.

I think this is yet another example of tossing the public a bone and seeing which dog (i. e. human) will tear into it first.


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## Herzeleide (Feb 25, 2008)

Mirror Image said:


> I don't buy into what the news media says too often, especially all the major networks like FoxNews, CNN, MSNBC, etc.
> 
> As far as music being good for your heart, I doubt it. My Grandmother loved music, but she had heart problems most of her life.
> 
> I think this is yet another example of tossing the public a bone and seeing which dog (i. e. human) will tear into it first.


I'm similarly skeptical.

Also, I'd question the advice given not to listen to a 'song' too many times. I'll never, ever, get tired of pieces I adore.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Um... I have one name that almost totally derails this:

Mahler.

Composer, conductor (that's both composing AND listening to music for a living, as well as getting some good cardiovascular exercise as well), as well as an avid hiker and sportsman in general... diagnosed with a fatal heart problem just out of the physical prime of his life.

Not to mention several other prominent musicians who also had heart problems, prominent among them John Barbirolli.

Of course, they didn't have recordings that they could listen to for hours on end, but still, the fact that music was presumably going on in their head almost all the time, which I'd imagine to be similar in experience to listening... OR IS IT???

Here's an interesting question: is listening to music at all similar to thinking about it?


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

World Violist said:


> Here's an interesting question: is listening to music at all similar to thinking about it?


This is a good question, but I'm going to say no, listening and thinking about are two different acts altogether.

You can think about something all you want to, but actually hearing it is a completely different animal.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Dr Mike Miller said:


> Long-term stress can wreak havoc on the cardiovascular system...Stress can also suppress the immune system, contribute to infertility and impotence, speed the aging process and even rewire the brain, leaving people more vulnerable to anxiety and depression.
> 
> But music can counter the effects of stress. "It gives us an overall feeling of good, well-being -- a sense of euphoria in some cases," Miller said.


Like the other members above, I don't think that music is going to fix heart problems per se, but as the quote from the article above suggests, it can be very good for one's mental health (i.e. to relieve stress). Like anyone else, I've had a few periods of feeling down, and music really helps you to lift your spirits, or just get through the day. Having the radio on, for example, whilst doing menial tasks seems to make it easier. No wonder many people have portable music nowadays. It makes that boring commute or jog/walk much more interesting.

So I basically think that music is good for one's mental health. Whether that has flow on effects on one's physical health is more debatable, I think...


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## Rasa (Apr 23, 2009)

It's also been proven that reading Homer aloud gives you a very good breathing pattern, and relieves stess that way, which is good for your heart. Same principle.


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## sam richards (Apr 8, 2009)

Anything that makes you happy and stress-free is good for you.


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## Lisztfreak (Jan 4, 2007)

World Violist said:


> Um... I have one name that almost totally derails this:
> 
> Mahler.
> 
> Composer, conductor (that's both composing AND listening to music for a living, as well as getting some good cardiovascular exercise as well), as well as an avid hiker and sportsman in general... diagnosed with a fatal heart problem just out of the physical prime of his life.


It is because he worked too much. Sitting at a desk and struggling with notes, losing your eyesight and your nerves certainly isn't healthy. That's why Prokofiev had a heart attack, he worked too much.

Besides, Mahler had bacterial endocarditis. That is a thing to cure with antibiotics, and had they been known in 1910, Mahler probably wouldn't have died.


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## Herzeleide (Feb 25, 2008)

I listen to Mozart and Papa Haydn.

Ergo, I'm a well-rounded, organised and healthy person, whose life is perfectly balanced.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

sam richards said:


> Anything that makes you happy and stress-free is good for you.


Thank you. I was beginning to think life was utterly hopeless reading the skepticism here.


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## Margaret (Mar 16, 2009)

Geesh, people, just because something is true in general doesn't make it true for everyone.

And just because something isn't true for one person in particular doesn't make it not true in general.

Pets lower your blood pressure. Doesn't mean if you have a pet you'll _never_ get high blood pressure.

Married men live longer than unmarried men -- on average. That doesn't mean that _every_ married man will live longer than every unmarried man.

If you want to learn more about that concept and the difference between an entire population set versus an individual data point I'd recommend a short course in statistical analysis.


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## Habib (Jan 29, 2009)

I think that this article is baloney, to tell you the truth.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

It makes sense to me that there can be positive physiological reactions to music, just not psychological.

I think anyone who has ever gotten goosebumps from music, tears, laughter, an increased heart rate with exciting music or decreased heart rate with soothing music should have some idea how music can affect them physically.

If good music can relieve stress, and reduced stress is good for your heart, I think, in a round about way, music can indeed be therapeutic.


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## Elgarian (Jul 30, 2008)

Surely Margaret's reminder is crucial here - these statements (like music being good for you) are statistical. There will always be a lot of scatter, with individual differences; it's a matter of probabilities.

I once made a series of measurements of my blood pressure before, during, and after listening to music (I forget what I used - it was a gentle but engrossing piece) and the effect - a significant fall in blood pressure - was easy to see. Other things being equal, a reduction in blood pressure is good for the heart, so I don't need any persuading of the likely general beneficial effects of music.


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## Nicola (Nov 25, 2007)

Surely whether listening to music is good for the heart depends on a number of factors including the general state of one's heart in the first place, and whether or not listening to music is an effective de-stressing agent. For example, if one's heart is on its last legs then it seems improbable that a regular dose of Mozart or whatever is likely to make much difference to one's chances of survival, and if music is not particularly liked, or is only tolerated as a background event, then it can hardly be expected to be an effective de-stressing agent but rather the opposite. On the hand other hand, if one's heart is generally in a sound state (120/70 or thereabouts) and assuming that one likes music, it doesn't necessarily follow that listening to music all the more will have any beneficial effects over and above doing something else relaxing (eg reading, watching tv, playing computer games etc).


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