Listen to Yoga Music Before Sleeping Good For the Heart

Listening to music before bed, not only relaxes us but also benefits heart health. So said a study in India. The researchers decided to explore the type of music as a lullaby that can affect a person's level of anxiety and overall well-being.

Research presentations at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress in Munich concluded that a person's anxiety level tends to decrease when they listen to quiet music before going to sleep. This kind of soothing music is completely different from the kind of up-beat music. The study was conducted on 149 participants with an average age of 26 years, taking three sessions for three nights.

During the first session, quiet music (similar to the type heard during yoga classes) is played before they sleep. Then followed by pop music with regular rhythms on the second night and no music on the third night.

Listen to Yoga Music Before Sleeping Good For the Heart

Then, the researcher measured the participants' heartbeats for five minutes before the music or silence period began, then for 10 minutes during music or a quiet period and for five minutes afterwards. They found that participants' heart rate variability increased as long as yoga music was played, dropped during pop music and remained the same when there was no music. Next, the scientists used the Goldberg Anxiety Scale to measure the anxiety level of the participants before and after each of their sleep sessions.

They noted that participants' anxiety levels dropped dramatically when listening to yoga music, and increased after pop music and after a period of silence. Dr. Naresh Sen believes in the positive effects on heart health which is shown by listening to yoga music before going to sleep.

"We use music therapy in hospitals, and in our study this shows that yoga music has a beneficial effect on heart rate variability before going to sleep," explained Dr. Sen, a cardiologist consultant in Jaipur, India. "This is a small study, and further research is needed on the cardiovascular effects of musical interventions offered by trained music therapists. "But listening to soothing music before going to sleep is a cheap and easy to apply and harmless therapy."

According to Dr. Sen, yoga music that is played during sleep slows the heart rate so that it changes body mode from "fight or flight" mode to "rest and digest".