Playing music may lower your blood pressure

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Want to lower your blood pressure? Pick up a musical instrument.

That’s the implication of a pilot study from the Netherlands, which suggests playing music is beneficial to one’s cardiovascular system.

“Our study suggests that active music making has some training effects that resemble those of physical exercise training,” researchers from the Leiden University Medical Center’s Department of Cardiology reports in theNetherlands Heart Journal.

The researchers, including Cees Swenne, measured the cardiovascular health of 25 musicians and 28 non-musicians, all healthy young adults between the age of 18 and 30. The groups were well-matched in terms of height and weight, as well as caffeine and alcohol consumption, and the amount of physical exercise they engaged in.

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Playing music may lower your blood pressure