Finally you can justify listening to Celine Dion, because it means your heart will go on.
Plenty of songs have been written about broken hearts, but researchers have now found that music can actually strengthen the heart, and improve recovery in patients suffering from cardiac disease.
In a study by the University of Nis in Serbia, 74 patients with cardiac disease were separated into three groups – one group undertook regular cardiovascular exercise and were instructed to listen to music of their choice for thirty minutes a day, one group did exercise only and the third group only listened to music with no exercise.
The results found that “At the end of the trial, the patients who had listened to music as well as exercising had boosted crucial measures of heart function significantly, and improved their exercise capacity by 39 per cent. The group which only took aerobic exercise improved their capacity by 29 per cent. Even those who took no exercise and only listened to their favourite music for half an hour a day improved their exercise function by 19 per cent”. The study excluded Kings Of Leon’s last album, which was found to put listeners into a deep coma.
Professor Delijanin Ilic from the University of Nis Institute of Cardiology said that as long as you enjoy the music you listen to, there will likely be health benefits. “When we listen to music we like then endorphins are released from the brain and this improves our vascular health. There is no ‘best music’ for everyone – what matters is what the person likes and makes them happy.”
So do your ticker a favour – slip on your (Heart)Beats By Dre and do some cardio to our Heart Health Mixtape!
Via Telegraph.co.uk
