Karma_YW August-2018 Dummy

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Home Music Therapy!
If you have elderly parents
who live with you, and suffer from
high blood pressure, or then you
yourself have BP issues, there’s
one thing that you can do along
with other lifestyle modifications:
Play music after blood pressure
medicines have been taken and
then go about your business. Of
course, make sure it is soothing,
classical music. This is because,
according to latest research, antihypertensive
drugs improve heart
rate more in patients who listen to
music after taking medication.
Researchers from São Paulo
State University (UNESP), along
with Oxford Brookes University in
the UK, have found that classical
music has the greatest efficiency
at reducing arterial pressure. They
measured the effect of musical
stimulation on heart rate variability
in ordinary situations such as
treatment for high blood pressure,
in which music therapy has been
studied as a complementary
intervention. They found that heart
rate diminished significantly 60
minutes after medication when
patients listed to music in the
period. Heart rate did not fall as
significantly when they did not
listen to music.
“We found that the effect of
anti-hypertension medication
on heart rate was enhanced by
listening to music,” says researcher
Vitor Engrácia Valenti. “Blood
pressure also responded more
strongly to medication when
patients listened to music.”
One of the hypotheses raised
by the researchers is that music
stimulates the parasympathetic
nervous system, increases
gastrointestinal activity, and
accelerates absorption of
anti-hypertensive medication,
intensifying its effects on heart
rate.
August 2018 • Issue III • Volume VII • yourwellness.com