Sound therapy uses aspects of music to improve physical and emotional wellbeing. It can be applied to treat many different physical ailments. It is also known to boost the healing process when it comes to recovering from various diseases such as blood-related conditions like Toxemia, Aneurysm and Neutropenia.

Moreover, listening to music is good for the heart—literally. Sound therapy can do wonders for the central organ, specifically those with heart-related problems. It helps in easing a patient’s recovery after a cardiac procedure, heart attack or stroke. Music can relieve stress and even contribute to lower blood pressure. So let’s look at the benefits of sound therapy for heart health and healing.

Reduced blood pressure

Healthline describes how vibroacoustic therapy can affect bodily functions such as blood pressure and breathing. Vibroacoustic therapy uses audible sound vibrations to improve a patient’s health. This research isn’t new, as in the early 2000’s a team at Massachusetts General Hospital found that heart patients confined to bed rest who listened to music 30-minutes every day had lower blood pressure and distress than a group of patients that didn’t. Reduced blood pressure can have many benefits for hypertensive patients as well as people with a high risk of heart disease.

Improved heart rate variability

Heart rate variability is the variation in time between each heartbeat. People who are fit and who exercise regularly have some of the best heart rate variability. High heart rate variability is an indicator of a healthy heart, and is associated with a reduction in mortality rates. A Frontiers in Public Health journal found that acoustic stimulation improved heart rate variability. Furthermore, sound therapy has been noted to lead to a decreased heart rate, which lessens the risk of strokes or sudden cardiac arrest.

Increased blood circulation

Sound-based vibration therapy is also known to increase blood circulation, which is attributed to sound therapy’s healing effects. Improved blood circulation is the reason why many patients with fibromyalgia, a disorder involving musculoskeletal pain, look to sound therapy for healing. It was found that people with the disease use low-frequency sound stimulation to improve their sleep and lessen symptoms of pain. Finnish scientist Olav Skille’s theory was that lower frequencies used in sound therapy improved blood circulation and reduced activity levels in the central nervous system, which facilitated healing and pain relief in various forms. He came to this conclusion after measuring “the physiological and psychological effects of different frequencies on children and adults who had language difficulties, personality disorders, difficulty in motor functions or limited learning capacity.”

Chronic disease and excessive noise

On the other hand, the American Heart Association reports that regular exposure to excessive noise also increases the risk of more heart problems. The findings of their study concluded that people with the highest levels of chronic noise exposure were most likely to suffer cardiovascular events like heart attacks or strokes. With noise pollution becoming a widespread issue, more people will develop chronic diseases because of it. Indeed, this follows a prediction put forward by Maryville University that chronic diseases will affect nearly half of the population by 2025. As more members of the population are affected by excessive noise, the more people may need to turn to sound therapy to combat the chronic heart problems caused by it. An additional benefit of using sound therapy to help the heart is that it is also less intrusive than other procedures. With more people estimated to suffer from chronic illness in the future, many will seek alternative and more cost effective options.

As the above treatments show, the right amount of sound is very beneficial for a person’s body, and a reason why more patients are turning to sound therapy to improve their heart’s health. As more research is done, expect there to be an increase in practices that use sound therapy.

written for sound-pharmacy.com by Jolie Hawks