A recent online study looked at how the music may cure and affect your heart cardiovascular system. It showed that the very listening to music around the time of surgery may help patients as they recover.
In fact, heart surgery can be painful and stressful, but researchers may have found a way to reduce patients' anxiety and postoperative pain -- without any extra side effects.
In the study, Dutch researchers found that the simple act of listening to music around the time of surgery may help patients as they recover, according to Health Day News.
"Undoubtedly, there is a significant amount of both anxiety and pain associated with heart procedures," said Fernandez, who is chief of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at Northwell Health's Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y.
In the new scientific research, published this week in the online journal Open Heart, the professional team from Netherlands analysed specific data from 16 studies looking at the effect of music on post-op care.
The studies included nearly 1,000 patients, and about 90% of the procedures involved coronary artery bypass grafts and/or heart valve replacement.
A majority of the time the type of music used was relaxing and did not have strong rhythms, the researchers noted.
The choice of music varied; sometimes it was from the patients' own playlists, but other times it was from preselected playlists or chosen by their doctor.
Instead of music, the comparison groups in the studies received a mix of other options, such as scheduled rest, breathing exercises, or headphones without music.
The scientists then used validated scales and scoring systems to measure patients' anxiety and pain.
According to the recent research, the analysis showed that listening to music did seem to significantly reduce patients' anxiety and pain after major heart surgery.
Several days of listening to music also reduced anxiety and pain for up to eight days after surgery, according to the study.
The scientists pointed out that even though the music therapy did seem to help ease discomfort, it didn't have any big impact on patients' use of opioid painkillers, length of hospital stay, time spent on mechanical ventilation, blood pressure, heart rate or breathing rate.
Still, unlike medications, music "has neither risks nor known side effects ... (so) health care professionals should consider providing perioperative music for patients undergoing cardiac surgery," the researchers declared in a journal news release.
On his part, Fernandez said the study is "very important for all of us to look for ways that can make the experience gentler for the patient, because this can potentially lead to better healing, and therefore improved results."
Fernandez noted that the benefits from music appeared to set in quickly, and " the effect is more pronounced when the patients select their own tunes."
"I feel that we should start looking at implementing this as a complementary form of therapy for patients following heart surgery." he said.
Ultimately, the music helps people recovering from heart surgery to feel less pain and anxiety (and possibly sleep better).
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