Physiological Responses to Music Therapy
Psychological stress is a serious public health concern because it is associated with a variety of comorbidities and long-term health effects.
Musical interventions are one therapeutic approach to reduce psychological stress and improve physical and mental health.
In the study, a systematic literature review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items (PRISMA) Statement guidelines for reporting to identify all neuroendocrine biomarkers used to assess psychological stress in randomized controlled trials involving music interventions.
Results.
18 unique biomarkers of stress were identified from 14 full-text randomized controlled trial studies, and only one of the 14 music studies included a music therapy intervention.
The most frequently used biomarkers across the studies were
Plasma cortisol
Salivary cortisol
Salivary alpha-amylase
and salivary alpha-amylase.
Four of the five studies found significant p-values for reductions in both stress biomarkers and psychological stress in the music intervention group.
Due to the diversity of stress biomarkers used and differences in study protocols, it is difficult to assess the magnitude of the effect of music intervention on psychological stress. However, our findings suggest that musical interventions have the potential to reduce both stress biomarker levels and psychological stress in acute stress situations.
Melanie Mitsui Wong, BHSc, Talha Tahir, BHSc, Michael Mitsui Wong, Annilee Baron, MTA, Rachael Finnerty, RP, MTA, MA, MMT, Biomarkers of Stress in Music Interventions: A Systematic Review, Journal of Music Therapy, 2021;,
Conclusion
Music therapy may reduce both psychological stress and stress biomarkers, as the physiological responses are significant. In music therapy itself, there is no strict specification of playing techniques or tunes, but in another study, some tunes belonging to the major key showed a positive response to stress.
