The Healing Power of Music: Relaxation and Gut Health
The current extreme weather and the chaos of the ‘back to school’ and ‘back to work’ period are combining to increase stress levels for many of us. To top things off, you may find that this has exacerbated your gut symptoms.
Why is that?
The gut and brain are intricately linked through the nervous, hormone and immune systems - sometimes called the gut brain axis.
(If you want a re-fresher on the gut brain axis you can read our blog here.)
Stress activates the hypothalamus and leads to a cascade of hormone responses that amongst other things alter gut function. Stress can also affect the balance between our parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system and our sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous system, which upsets gut function.
Ideally, it’s good to get a break from chronic stress by seeking out some relaxation time each day to reduce production of stress hormones and stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system.
In our “What is the Gut Brain Axis?” blog, we suggested breathing techniques, yoga, progressive muscle relaxation and walks in nature as ways to stimulate your parasympathetics nervous system.
Here, we’ll explore another method – listening to music…and offer up two playlists of relaxing music you may wish to try.
Music Soothes the Soul
Music has long been recognized for its ability to soothe the soul and elevate mood.
A bit like a bout of exercise, both making music and listening to uplifting, enjoyable music may increase the sympathetic nervous system whilst listening, but it is immediately followed by a ‘relaxation-response’ including a drop in heart rate.
And in the longer term, regular music listening appears to re-set the balance between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system towards the rest and digest arm with a decrease in heart rate and a healthy increase in heart rate variability.
Research has also delved deeper into how specific musical elements, such as tempo and complexity, can have profound immediate physiological effects on our bodies.
Relaxation and Low Tempo Music
Studies have shown that listening to music with a a pleasing melody and slow tempo, typically around 60-70 beats per minute (BPM), can significantly lower heart rate and reduce stress levels. This suggests that slower music can help induce an immediate state of relaxation.
For example, an American study conducted by Briana Brownlow found that participants exposed to slower tempo music experienced a significant decrease in heart rate compared to those listening to faster tempo music or silence.
Similarly, a study by J M White involving patients who had experienced a heart attack found that listening to relaxing music for 20 minutes led to greater reductions in heart rate and breathing rate than in controls experiencing treatment as usual. In this study, the effects persisted for at least an hour after the music ended.
Similar outcomes were found in recently published study in trauma patients - they had faster wound healing, decreased pain, lower cortisol levels and reduced stress when exposed daily to 30 mins of music with ‘a mellow tempo and a pleasing melody’. The therapy induced a physiologically tranquil state conducive to recovery.
The participants were asked to specify the music styles they liked and the slow tempo music they were exposed to was specially selected to meet their preferences. This suggests that you may need to enjoy the music for it to produce relaxation effects.
Perfect Piano
Classical piano music is loved by many and has been the particular focus of research. It has been shown to help relax the nervous system and reduce stress by activating the parasympathetic nervous system.
A number of studies have found that music therapy with classical piano music can influence recovery from surgery, especially in terms of improving pain levels or the need for sedation.
For example, listening to classical piano music can calm patients undergoing eye surgery: their blood pressure, heart rate and breathing rate and anxiety levels were all lower than patients who did not listen to the classical piano music.
What about Gut Health Benefits?
The connection between music and gut health is an emerging area of study. However, it is widely accepted that stress and anxiety exacerbate digestive issues, and that relaxation can help counter this effect.
For example, a 2014 systematic review by Seong-Hi Park and colleagues found that relaxation therapies are effective interventions to reduce (irritable bowel syndrome) IBS symptoms. The techniques included in the review were breathing, meditation, muscle relaxation, biofeedback and visualization techniques. Music therapy wasn’t included in the review, but given the physiological effects described above, common sense tells us it is likely to have similar effects.
Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a lot of research specifically on the effects of listening to music on gut health. Music therapy was found to reduce cortisol levels and improve mood in inflammatory bowel disease patients (IBD), but did not affect immunoglobulin A (IgA) levels, a marker for immune system function.
We found a small 2009 Swedish study that looked at the effect of music therapy (singing in a choir) on chronic pain in people with IBS. Compared to a group that met for information sessions, there was a trend for the choir group to have less pain.
The research is promising, but clearly more studies are needed.
Conclusions
The therapeutic benefits of music are vast and varied, extending beyond mere entertainment to tangible physiological effects.
Melodic, slow tempo music, including classical piano, is particularly good at activating of the parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system.
Music offers a natural and accessible way to enhance well-being. Continued research is needed to uncover the full extent of gut health benefits.
Listening to music is unlikely to instantly cure your gut health woes, but it is an extra tool in your toolbox to calm your symptoms.
Certainly, adding a little music therapy is unlikely to do any harm, and will certainly help you relax.
Ready to give it a try?
With that in mind we’ve put together two collections of relaxing music for you to enjoy.
Our Low Tempo Playlist gathers gentle melodies from some of the best artists from the 2020’s and further back through the decades to the 1970’s.
Our Classical Relaxation Playlist includes some of our favourite piano pieces
You can choose the style that you prefer and access them via your Spotify or Apple Music account.
Check out our playlists on Apple Music
for Classical Piano or Low Tempo Tracks.
or on Spotify.
Not subscribed to either music streaming platform? – check out the free Calm Classic Playlist on ABC Listen
References:
McCrary, J. M &Altenmuller, E. (2021) Mechanisms of Music Impact: Autonomic Tone and the Physical Activity Roadmap to Advancing Understanding and Evidence-Based Policy. Front. Psychol., Volume 12 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.727231
Brownlow, B. N. (2017) The Effect of Music Tempo on the Psychophysiological Measures of Stress. Continuum: The Spelman Undergraduate Research Journal, https://radar.auctr.edu/islandora/object/continuum%3A0001.002
White J. M. (2019) Effects of relaxing music on cardiac autonomic balance and anxiety after acute myocardial infarction. Am J Crit Care. 1999 Jul;8(4):220-30. PMID: 10392221
Seong-Hi Park, Kuem Sun Han, Chang-Bum Kang, (2014) Relaxation Therapy for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review, Asian Nursing Research, Volume 8, Issue 3,2014, Pages 182-192
Xintong Li & Siran Min (2024) Researching how music affects the autonomic nervous system and influences wound healing processes in trauma patients, International Wound Journal https://doi.org/10.1111/iwj.14790
March-Luján, V. A. et al. (2021). Impact of BMGIM Music Therapy on Emotional State in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of clinical medicine, 10(8), 1591. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10081591
Grape C., Theorell T., Wikström B. M., Ekman R. (2009) Choir singing and fibrinogen. VEGF, cholecystikinin and motilin in IBS patients. Medical Hypotheses/Correspondence 2009;72:223–224.
Blog written by: Noisy Guts co-founder Dr Mary Webberley. Mary has a background in biology, with two degrees from the University of Cambridge and post-doctoral research experience.