Keep Your Heart Healthy : Listening to Your Favourite Beats

When Elton John and Kiki Dee sang Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, little did they know their song could do just that. Because it seems that listening to music you love or hate can have a physical impact on your heart.

A new study has discovered that playing your favourite records can increase your blood circulation and give you the same feel-good factor as going to the gym.

Listening to songs people considered ‘joyful’ widened the blood vessels and encouraged healthy bloodflow. The opposite happened when music they didn’t like was played.




The positive effect of the blood vessels widening was so great the report said it was similar to that ‘previously observed with aerobic activity or statin therapy’. Statins are used to reduce cholesterol.

Dr Mike Miller, a cardiologist at the University of Maryland Medical Centre in the US, who conducted the research, said: ‘We know that stress can cause blood vessels to tighten, but we wanted to see if they would open up when music people enjoyed was played.

‘We thought we would see an increase in bloodflow in the volunteers, but we didn’t think it would be so high.’ The implications of the results are that enjoyable music can promote higher blood flow, which could lead to lower cholesterol, reduced inflammation and lessen the risk of blood clots.

The results also revealed that nitric oxide - a chemical endorphin related to feelings of happiness - was released when the enjoyable music was played.

Musicians most liked included Sheryl Crow and Elvis Presley, while rock band System Of A Down, and rapper Tupac were disliked.

The British Heart Foundation’s Judy O’Sullivan welcomed the results. ‘Relaxation is an important part of a healthy lifestyle,’ she said