Is it better to take medicine with music? Study reveals benefits: 10% reduction in side effects for cancer patients
Music can not only be a hobby, but can also cooperate with medical measures to make drugs more effective? “Clinical Nursing Research” research shows that listening to and appreciating music is known to improve mood and promote mental health; and the mere act of listening to music may help increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs.
Is taking medicine more effective when paired with music? Study reveals benefits: 10% reduction in side effects for cancer patients
A research team from Michigan State University in the United States recruited 12 patients currently undergoing chemotherapy. Subjects agreed to listen to their favorite music for 30 minutes each time they needed to take anti-nausea medication. Subjects listened to music as an intervention whenever nausea symptoms occurred within 5 days after chemotherapy. After the trial ended, a total of 64 music listening events were left for analysis by the research team.
The analysis results showed that the subjects’ nausea severity and pain after chemotherapy decreased by 10.97% and 9.86% respectively. Jason Micheal Kiernan, the author of the study, said that in fact, previous literature has pointed out that listening to pleasant music can minimize the release of serotonin in the brain, that is, serotonin will stay in the platelets and will not be released into the systemic circulation.
The results also show that after subjects listen to subjectively identified “unpleasant music”, the level of serotonin release will increase and lead to greater stress. Kiernan pointed out that pain and anxiety involve the nervous system and are interpreted as a unique state in the brain. “Nausea caused by chemotherapy is not a stomach disease, but a neurological disease, and it may be that music makes patients nauseous.” Feel the relief."
Can music reduce pain in cancer patients? Experts say the key lies in the role of serotonin
Kiernan also emphasized that although the study did see a reduction in nausea severity and distress scores in patients, it is still difficult to distinguish the benefits of the drug from gradually taking effect or the music improving the patient’s mood. “Serotonin is the main neurotransmitter responsible for chemotherapy-induced nausea. Medications taken by cancer patients block the effects of serotonin, while listening to music enhances the effects of the drugs.”
However, Kiernan pointed out that the effects of music-enhanced drugs cannot yet be used as a clinical treatment method; and will music listening also help the efficacy of other drugs? This remains to be clarified by other studies. “In general, it is not that listening to music after taking medicine will significantly improve patients’ symptoms; the benefit brought by music is more likely to help patients boost their mood and maintain a positive mood when facing the disease.”
Does listening to music make you less likely to get tired when running? Study shows subjects had better exercise performance
In addition to the potential to improve the effectiveness of drugs, listening to music during exercise may also be helpful in improving exercise performance? The research team of the University of Edinburgh in the UK found 9 subjects who usually have running habits, as well as 9 well-trained athletes who have participated in large and small sports events, a total of 18 subjects, and conducted high-intensity fast running and low-intensity jogging. rotation training.
The two groups completed a 30-minute computerized cognitive test and could choose the tracks they listened to while running, or were randomly selected by the researchers. Research results show that in a state of mental fatigue, the intermittent running ability of subjects while listening to music is significantly increased, and their exercise performance is similar to that of subjects without fatigue. In the 5-kilometer jogging experiment, it was also shown that self-selected music did affect the performance of the subjects compared with no music.
Dr Shaun Phillips, from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Education and Sport, said mental fatigue is a common phenomenon for many people and can have a negative impact on daily activities, including sports performance. The results of this study suggest that listening to music may be a useful strategy to help athletes improve endurance and exercise capacity when they are mentally fatigued, and that the influence of music may help people better maintain the effects of exercise.
Source:
Mitigation of Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea Using Adjunct Music Listening: A Pilot Study
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