Music is widely used now-a-days for therapeutic purposes in treating a lot of conditions like anxiety disorders, depression and it has been used to relieve the stress of patients admitted in intensive coronary care units too. It is hypothesized to reduce the cardiac workload and cardiac metabolism. Only a very few studies are there on music therapy and there is less standardization of those studies. The effect of different types of music has not been studied so far and we decided to study the difference between fast and slow tempo music on heart rate variability. Heavy metal and relaxant music exposure have opposing effects on the cardiovascular system through the sympathetic nervous system [4]. Heavy metal music exposure leads to sleep disorders, fatigue, disruption of immunity etc. [6]. A few studies say that heavy metal music increases the sympathetic activity and relaxant music lowers it. Very few studies say that there is no difference between the two types of music [7]. Heart rate variability is a measure of autonomic functions of the heart. Hence, we decided to study the effect of fast and slow tempo music on heart rate variability.

The study was conducted after the approval of the Institutional ethical committee. Chronic smokers, alcoholics and long-term yoga practitioners were excluded from the study. Twenty-four subjects in the age group of 17-25 years were included in the study. The subjects were asked to come after a light breakfast without coffee or tea. A resting ECG of ten minutes was taken in lead II configuration following which a five minutes ECG recording was done and used as basal value for comparison. Subjects were exposed to five minutes of prerecorded slow and fast tempo music each for five minutes after a five minutes rest in between the readings. Resting ECG, ECG after fast tempo music and ECG after slow tempo music were used for the analysis of heart rate variability using Polyrite data acquisition system. The FFT parameters, LF, HF, LF/HF were taken for the analysis. Analysis was done using excel. Student t test was used for the comparison of means of resting HRV and slow tempo music HRV and for the comparison of means of resting HRV and fast tempo music HRV frequency domain parameters. P value less than 0.05 was considered to be significant statistically.

The mean and standard deviation of LF, HF, LF/HF of resting, fast and slow tempo music are presented in Table 1. It is seen from the table that the mean LF increased and the mean HF decreased after exposure to heavy music. After light music there was a slight increase in LF and HF.

The P values are presented in Table 2 and it is seen from it that HF after light music has increased significantly (p less than 0.05).

Table 1: Mean and standard deviation values after rest, heavy and light music

Table 2: P Values-Student t test

This study was done to find out the effects of heavy and light music on heart rate variability. LF, HF, LF/HF were analysed since they provide a better analysis of short term HRV. LF is a marker of sympathetic activity and HF is a marker of parasympathetic activity. There are a few studies on the effects of heavy and light music on cardiovascular system. Studies have reported opposing effects of heavy and light music. Though there is no statistical significance, mean LF which is a marker of sympathetic activity has increased after exposure to heavy metal music whereas HF which is a marker of parasympathetic activity has increased significantly after exposure to light music. (Table 2) But the LF/HF ratio which is a marker of sympathovagal balance has increased after heavy music and there is no change after light music. Combination of heavy and light music to obtain proper sympathovagal balance remains the future scope of research in this.

Music has an effect on the heart rate variability parameters and light music has a relaxing effect and hence light music can be used for stress management.

1. Gutiérrez, Enrique Octavio Flores, and Víctor Andrés Terán Camarena. “Music therapy in generalized anxiety disorder.” The Arts in Psychotherapy, vol. 44, July 2015, pp. 19-24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2015.02.003.

2. Castillo-Pérez, Sergio, et al. “Effects of music therapy on depression compared with psychotherapy.” The Arts in Psychotherapy, vol. 37, no. 5, November 2010, pp. 387-390. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2010.07.001.

3. Mofredj, A., et al. “Music therapy, a review of the potential therapeutic benefits for the critically ill.” Journal of Critical Care, vol. 35, October 2016, pp. 195-199. http:// dx. doi. org/ 10. 1016/j.jcrc.2016.05.021.

4. Roque, Adriano L., et al. “The effects of auditory stimulation with music on heart rate variability in healthy women.” Clinics, vol. 68, no. 7, July 2013, pp. 960-967. http://dx.doi.org/10.6061/clinics/2013(07)12.

5. Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology and the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology “Heart rate variability.” Circulation, vol. 93, no. 5, March 1996, pp. 1043-1065. http:// dx. doi. org/ 10. 1161/ 01. cir. 93.5.1043.

6. Sutoo, Den'etsu and Kayo Akiyama. “Music improves dopaminergic neurotransmission: Demonstration based on the effect of music on blood pressure regulation.” Brain Research, vol. 1016, no. 2, August 2004, pp. 255-262. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2004.05.018.

7. Roque, Adriano L., et al. “The effects of auditory stimulation with music on heart rate variability in healthy women.” Clinics, vol. 68, no. 7, July 2013, pp. 960-967. http://dx.doi.org/10.6061/clinics/2013(07)12.