Less stress, anxiety or pain
Dutch neuropsychology professor Eric Scherder wrote a whole book on the interaction between music and the brain. Singing in the brain. We selected 3 studies from his work relevant to healthcare and health. They all point to stress, anxiety and pain being mitigated if you administer music to patients in the right way.
In the waiting room
The first study took place in the A&E waiting room, among the parents of sick and injured children. In order to reduce the anxiety and stress among these concerned parents, the researchers tried 3 things:
- calm music of 60 to 70 beats per minute
- aromatherapy with orange blossom oil, said to have an anxiety and stress-reducing effect
- a combination of music and aromatherapy
The result? The expected stress and anxiety reduction only occurred when the music was playing in the waiting room, and it occurred both with music being the only stimulus and combined with the aroma therapy. See, everything you hear is processed by your brain stem. Which is also where your pulse, respiration and blood pressure are regulated.
Calm music makes the body synchronise with the slower tempo and reduce the number of signals the brain stem sends to the amygdala, which is where fear is regulated. This is how music can soothe your mind and reduce anxiety.
During pain stimuli
In another study, subjects received increasingly painful electric stimuli to the lower arm. The researchers confirmed the increasing pain by scanning the participants’ brain. Next, they compared the results to those of another group of subjects. This group listened to music before receiving the pain stimuli.
Did it make a difference? Yes! Certain brain activity associated with unpleasant stimuli appeared later in the brain scans of the second group. Their pain tolerance had gone up simply by listening to music.
After surgery
Finally, there have been dozens of studies exploring the impact of music after surgery. The same positive effects show up every time. Patients are happier, less fearful and take less pain medication. Fun fact: it doesn’t seem to matter whether the music is played before, during or after the surgery.
A convenient way to play music at your healthcare facility
Do you see the benefits of suitable music at your practice or healthcare institution? A professional music service like Tunify might be just the thing for you. It allows you to generate your playlist based on parameters such as intensity, atmosphere or beats per minute. This will help avoid sudden tempo or atmosphere changes that might otherwise cause the stress levels of your patients to spike.
Plus, these parameters can be set for each room or zone separately, from the waiting room to the OR. Give it a try for free!
