Country music is good for the heart: study
p2pnet news view Music:- “Music has charms to soothe a savage breast,” wrote William Congreve in The Mourning Bride back in 1697.
And it really does, say researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore in 2009.
Led by Michael Miller, MD, director of preventive cardiology at the university of medical center, and associate professor of medicine at its school of medicine, in an earlier study, the team had already concluded laughter a can ease many ills.
Now, they say they’ve shown for the first time that, “motions aroused by joyful music have a healthy effect on blood vessel function”.
“Music, selected by study participants because it made them feel good and brought them a sense of joy, caused tissue in the inner lining of blood vessels to dilate (or expand) in order to increase blood flow,” say the researchers, going on:
“This healthy response matches what the same researchers found in a 2005 study of laughter.”
Conversely, and not surprisingly, “when study volunteers listened to music they perceived as stressful, their blood vessels narrowed, producing a potentially unhealthy response that reduces blood flow”.
Most of the people including in the study went for country music as their favorite, “to evoke joy,” according to Miller.
But heavy metal “made them feel anxious”.
However, “You can’t read into this too much, although you could argue that country music is light, spirited, a lot of love songs,” says Miller. Ten other people may have preferred a different type of music.
The report adds »»»
Could other types of music produce similar positive effects on blood vessels? It’s possible, according to Dr. Miller. “The answer, in my opinion, is how an individual is ‘wired.’ We’re all wired differently; we all react differently. I enjoy country music, so I could appreciate why country music could cause that joyful response,” he says.
Dr. Miller believes that a physiological reaction to the type of music is behind the formation of positive and negative blood vessel reaction. “We don’t understand why somebody may be drawn to certain classical music, for example. There are no words in that, and yet the rhythm, the melody and harmony, may all play a role in the emotional and cardiovascular response.”
That physiological impact may also affect the activity of brain chemicals called endorphins. “The emotional component may be an endorphin-mediated effect,” says Dr. Miller. “The active listening to music evokes such raw positive emotions likely in part due to the release of endorphins, part of that mind-heart connection that we yearn to learn so much more about. Needless to say, these results were music to my ears, because they signal another preventive strategy that we may incorporate in our daily lives to promote heart health.”
Miller, meanwhile, likes rock, classical, jazz and country music.
Now you know. 
University of Maryland School of Medicine – Joyful Music May Promote Heart Health According to University of Maryland School of Medicine Study, October 12, 2009
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October 13th, 2009 at 1:50 am
Heavy metal makes my day better. Country music makes me leave the room.
October 15th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Seconded.
And how does suicide-inducing music good for your heart?