We now know that listening to music that we like can help fight anxiety or even pain. Published in the journal Clinical Nursing Research (Source 1), a new study adds a virtue to listening to music. Listening to music that you like might thus increase the effectiveness of drugs.
This small study involved 12 patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment who agreed to listen to their favorite music for 30 minutes each time they needed to take their anti-nausea medication. They repeated this process each time nausea arose during the five days following the chemotherapy session. A total of 66 such “events” occurred, allowing researchers to draw meaningful data.
The research team found a significant reduction in the severity of nausea when listening to music, as well as the distress felt by the occurrence of nausea. That said, she points out that it’s hard to say whether it was the gradual release of the antinausea or the music that led to this reduction in nausea.
The authors of the study are not discouraged, however, since they intend to continue the investigations by focusing on the amount of serotonin released following listening to music. This neurotransmitter is also a big part of the cause of chemotherapy-induced nausea, so much so that cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy take drugs to block the effects of serotonin, says Jason Michael Kiernan, first author of the study, in a press release (Source 2). The levels of serotonin released would be weaker when listening to pleasant musicand higher (synonymous with stress) when listening to music that one finds unpleasant, hence this potential anti-nausea effect by ricochet.
« In 10 to 20 years, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to use a non-pharmacological intervention like listening to your favorite music for 10 minutes to supplement a medication? “, rejoices Jason Michael Kiernan.
Note that we can always start now rather than waiting for proof, given the beneficial effect of music on many other health aspects…