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Effects of Relaxing Music on Salivary Cortisol Level after Psychological Stress

December 2003
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 999(1):374-6

DOI:10.1196/annals.1284.045

Source
PubMed

Authors:

Stéphanie Khalfa

CNRS LNSC

Simone Dalla Bella

Université de Montréal

Isabelle Peretz

Université de Montréal

Show all 5 authorsHide

The goal of the present study was to determine whether relaxing music (as compared to silence) might facilitate recovery from a psychologically stressful task. To this aim, changes in salivary cortisol levels were regularly monitored in 24 students before and after the Trier Social Stress Test. The data show that in the presence of music, the salivary cortisol level ceased to increase after the stressor, whereas in silence it continued to increase for 30 minutes.

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Feb 2025

The capacity of music to alleviate stress has been the subject of extensive research. Yet, findings from laboratory studies remain inconsistent, which has been linked to heterogeneity of the music stimuli used. To address the need for standardized, pre-tested music stimuli, we developed the Music for Stress Alleviation (MUSA) playlists and conducted an initial validation of their effectiveness. Six playlists were curated for stress reduction, containing instrumental music with a low tempo, low arousal, and neutral to positive valence, and representing various genres (piano, ambient, jazz, lounge, guitar, and lo-fi). Sixty healthy female participants were assigned to one of the six playlists. Pre- and post-listening, we measured participants’ affective states using the Relaxed Positive Affect (RPA) and Safe/Content Positive Affect (SCPA) scales of the Types of Positive Affect Scale, and the Good-Bad and Calm-Nervous dimensions of the Multidimensional Mood State Questionnaire. All playlists led to significantly increased RPA (medium-to-large effect sizes), while a subset also enhanced SCPA, Calm, and Good mood. Participants rated the playlists as highly relaxing. These findings provide initial evidence of the effectiveness of the MUSA playlists for music-induced stress relief. Further studies in larger and stressed samples are needed to confirm and expand on these findings.

Individual differences in the effects of musical familiarity and musical features on brain activity during relaxation

Preprint

Full-text available

Nov 2024

Finding a way to relax is increasingly difficult in our overstimulating modern society and chronic stress can have severe psychological and physiological consequences. Music is a promising tool to promote relaxation by lowering heart rate, modulating mood and thoughts, and providing a sense of safety. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate how music influence brain activity during relaxation with a particular focus on the participants’ experience of different types of music. In a 2×2 design, 57 participants were scanned while rating how relaxed they felt after listening to 28-second excerpts of either familiar or unfamiliar relaxation music with calm or energetic features. Behaviourally, calm music was the strongest predictor of relaxation, followed by familiar music. fMRI results revealed activations of auditory, motor, emotion, and memory areas, for listening to familiar compared to unfamiliar music. This suggests increased audio-motor synchronization and participant engagement of known music. Listening to unfamiliar music was correlated with attention-related brain activity, suggesting increased attentional load for this music. Behaviourally, we identified four clusters of participants based on their relaxation response to the different types of music. These groups also displayed distinct auditory and motor activity patterns, suggesting that the behavioural responses are linked to changes in music processing. Interestingly, some individuals found energetic music to be relaxing if it is familiar, whereas others only found calm music to be relaxing. Such individual behavioural and neurological differences in relaxation responses to music emphasise the importance of developing personalised music-based interventions. Graphical Abstract Highlights - Participants listen to relaxation tracks varying in familiarity and energy levels - Sedative music followed by familiar music increased relaxation ratings the most - Auditory, motor, memory and attention activations depending on the music type - 4 distinct clusters of behavioural responses to familiar or sedative music - These groups are also present in brain activity

Exploring the impact of mindfulness, subjective well-being, and music engagement on academic performance of students in higher educational institutions

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2025

Xiaokang Wang

In nowadays competitive environment, academic performance has become an indispensable need for the survival of university students as well as for higher educational institutions (HEIs). In response to this crucial situation, the current research focuses on investigating the role of students’ cognitive and behavioral factors, namely mindfulness (MFN), subjective wellbeing (SWB), and students’ music engagement (ME) in their academic performance. This research highlights the mediating role of students’ subjective wellbeing between mindfulness and their academic performance (APE) pathways. In addition, this study examines the moderating and moderated-mediation effects of students’ music engagement on the relationship amongst their mindfulness, SWB and academic performance, respectively. The target sample of this study was university students studying in a set of Chinese universities, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the proposed hypotheses and theoretical model. The results indicated that mindfulness positively and significantly influence students’ SWB and academic performance. Furthermore, students’ subjective wellbeing partially mediates the relationship between mindfulness and academic performance. Moreover, surprisingly, the outcomes reveal that students’ ME does not moderate mindfulness—SWB relationship, whereas it positively and significantly moderates the relationship between SWB and students’ academic performance. Besides, the most interesting result was empirical evidence of the moderated-mediation effect of students’ music engagement on the relationship amongst their mindfulness, subjective wellbeing and academic performance, which is significant. Hence, these outcomes propose imperative directions for the leadership of HEIs by suggesting different ways to strengthen academic performance among university students through reinforcing their behavioral and cognitive factors.

The effect of music therapy on anxiety, depression, pain and sleep quality of lung cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2025
SUPPORT CARE CANCER

Purpose Music Therapy (MT) is reported to alleviate anxiety and depression in patients with lung cancer, but there is a lack of conclusive studies on the effects of MT. The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of MT on anxiety, depression, pain, sleep quality, and quality of life in lung cancer patients. Methods We searched seven databases, such as PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, CNKI, China VIP, and WanFang from their inception to 31 December 2023. And we searched for Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) on the effects of MT on anxiety, depression, pain, and quality of life in lung cancer patients. The Cochrane Risk of Bias (ROB) tool assessed the quality of the included studies, while the GRADE system evaluated the evidence's certainty. Meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.3 and Stata 18.0 software. Results Our analysis comprised 16 trials, assessing 1991 patients. When compared to routine treatment, MT can significantly decrease the levels of anxiety (SMD = -1.43, 95% CI = -2.07 to -0.78, P < 0.0001), depression (SMD = -1.49, 95% CI = -1.91 to -1.07, P < 0.00001), pain (SMD = -1.58, 95% CI = -3.08 to -0.08, P < 0.05) and improve sleep quality (MD = -3.02, 95% CI = -4.47 to -1.57, P < 0.0001), quality of life (SMD = 1.50, 95% CI = 0.73 to 2.28, P < 0.05). Conclusion MT can relieve anxiety, depression, pain, promote sleep and life quality in lung cancer patients. Meanwhile, engaging in MT for 30 min, 1 to 2 times per day, over a duration of 2 weeks to 3 months, could potentially alleviate anxiety more effectively.

Does music counteract mental fatigue? A systematic review

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2025
PLOS ONE

Introduction Mental fatigue, a psychobiological state induced by prolonged and sustained cognitive tasks, impairs both cognitive and physical performance. Several studies have investigated strategies to counteract mental fatigue. However, potential health risks and contextual restrictions often limit these strategies, which hinder their practical application. Due to its noninvasive and portable nature, music has been proposed as a promising strategy to counteract mental fatigue. However, the effects of music on performance decrements vary with different music styles. Synthesizing studies that systematically report music style and its impact on counteracting performance decrements is crucial for theoretical and practical applications. Objectives This review aims to provide a comprehensive systematic analysis of different music styles in counteracting mental fatigue and their effects on performance decrements induced by mental fatigue. Additionally, the mechanisms by which music counteracts mental fatigue will be discussed. Methods A comprehensive search was conducted across five databases—Web of Science, PubMed, SCOPUS, SPORTDiscus via EBSCOhost, and the Psychological and Behavioral Sciences Collection via EBSCOhost—up to November 18, 2023. The selected studies focused solely on music interventions, with outcomes including subjective feelings of mental fatigue, physiological markers, and both cognitive and behavioral performance. Results Nine studies met the predetermined criteria for inclusion in this review. The types of music interventions that counteract mental fatigue include relaxing, exciting, and personal preference music, all of which were associated with decreased subjective feelings of mental fatigue and changes in objective physiological markers. Cognitive performance, particularly in inhibition and working memory tasks impaired by mental fatigue, was countered by both relaxing and exciting music. Exciting music was found to decrease reaction time more effectively than relaxing music in working memory tasks. The physiological marker of steady-state visually evoked potential-based brain-computer interface (SSVEP-BCI) amplitude increased, confirming that exciting music counteracts mental fatigue more effectively than relaxing music. Behavioral performance in tasks such as arm-pointing, the Yo-Yo intermittent test, and the 5 km time-trial, which were impaired by mental fatigue, were counteracted by personal preference music. Conclusion Relaxing music, exciting music, and personal preference music effectively counteract mental fatigue by reducing feelings of fatigue and mitigating performance decrements. Individuals engaged in mentally demanding tasks can effectively counteract concurrent or subsequent cognitive performance decrements by simultaneously listening to relaxing or exciting music without lyrics or by using music during recovery from mental fatigue. Exciting music is more effective than relaxing music in counteracting mental fatigue. Personal preference music is effective in counteracting behavioral performance decrements in motor control and endurance tasks. Mentally fatigued individuals could apply personal preference music to counteract subsequent motor control performance decrements or simultaneously listen to it to counteract endurance performance decrements. Future studies should specify and examine the effects of different music genres, tempos, and intensities in counteracting mental fatigue. Additionally, the role of music in counteracting mental fatigue in contexts such as work productivity, traffic accident risk, and sports requires further investigation, along with the underlying mechanisms.

The Influence of Music on the Performance of Graduate Occupational Therapy Students during Practical Examinations

Article

Jan 2024

Effects of pitch and timing expectancy on musical emotion

Preprint

Aug 2017

Pitch and timing information work hand in hand to create a coherent piece of music; but what happens when this information goes against the norm? Relationships between musical expectancy and emotional responses were investigated in a study conducted with 40 participants: 20 musicians and 20 non-musicians. Participants took part in one of two behavioural paradigms measuring continuous expectancy or emotional responses (arousal and valence) while listening to folk melodies that exhibited either high or low pitch predictability and high or low onset predictability. The causal influence of pitch predictability was investigated in an additional condition where pitch was artificially manipulated and a comparison conducted between original and manipulated forms; the dynamic correlative influence of pitch and timing information and its perception on emotional change during listening was evaluated using cross-sectional time series analysis. The results indicate that pitch and onset predictability are consistent predictors of perceived expectancy and emotional response, with onset carrying more weight than pitch. In addition, musicians and non-musicians do not differ in their responses, possibly due to shared cultural background and knowledge. The results demonstrate in a controlled lab-based setting a precise, quantitative relationship between the predictability of musical structure, expectation and emotional response.

Psychological, behavioural and relevant factors affecting wound healing, and the buffering role of interventions

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2025
J Wound Care

Wound healing is a complex process accompanying numerous health conditions, and millions of people across the world experience deleterious impacts caused by wounds. There are many non-biological factors that can directly or indirectly affect the health outcomes of patients with wounds. The purpose of this review was to investigate the effects of psychological, behavioural and other relevant factors on wound healing. In addition, as the possible associations among these factors have, in the authors' view, not been addressed appropriately, we also aimed to examine if there were specific relationships among these factors and between these factors and health outcomes. Finally, we reviewed the role of various interventions in buffering negative impacts during health procedures.

Practice guidelines for music interventions with hospitalized pediatric patients

Article

Jan 2009

Music and Science: A Guide to Empirical Music Research

Book

Oct 2024

Tuomas Eerola

"Emotions in everyday listening to music

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2001

Highlights a number of key features of research concerning emotional response to everyday music listening based on the assumptions that: (1) music is always heard in a social context, in a particular place and time, with or without other individuals being present, and with other activities taking place which have their own complex sources of meaning and emotion; (2) music is ubiquitous in contemporary life; and (3) despite the growing recognition that our experience of emotion is inextricably linked to the social world and the linguistic practices used to make sense of that world, we tend to think of our emotions as personal, "private' experiences, especially if they do not involve "public' emotional displays. In conclusion, the authors argue that by turning attention to the role of emotional "work' in relation to music, which takes into account individual subjective experience of both emotional feelings and displays as they occur in everyday evolving situations, it might be possible to describe musical materials in a way that is free of the assumptions and biases associated with one's own experiences and training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The ‘Trier Social Stress Test’ – A Tool for Investigating Psychobiological Stress Responses in a Laboratory Setting

Article

Full-text available

Feb 1993

This paper describes a protocol for induction of moderate psychological stress in a laboratory setting and evaluates its effects on physiological responses. The 'Trier Social Stress Test' (TSST) mainly consists of an anticipation period (10 min) and a test period (10 min) in which the subjects have to deliver a free speech and perform mental arithmetic in front of an audience. In six independent studies this protocol has been found to induce considerable changes in the concentration of ACTH, cortisol (serum and saliva), GH, prolactin as well as significant increases in heart rate. As for salivary cortisol levels, the TSST reliably led to 2- to 4-fold elevations above baseline with similar peak cortisol concentrations. Studies are summarized in which TSST-induced cortisol increases elucidated some of the multiple variables contributing to the interindividual variation in adrenocortical stress responses. The results suggest that gender, genetics and nicotine consumption can influence the individual's stress responsiveness to psychological stress while personality traits showed no correlation with cortisol responses to TSST stimulation. From these data we conclude that the TSST can serve as a tool for psychobiological research.

Emotions In Everyday Listening To Music

Chapter

Aug 2001

The position of emotion in music has been a subject of considerable interest and debate. However emotional aspects of music have received surprising little attention in the 45 years since the publication of Leonard Meyer's classic work 'Emotion and meaning in music.' During that time, both 'music psychology' and 'emotion' have developed as lively areas of research, and the time is fitting therefore to try and bring together this multidisciplinary interest and take stock of what we now know about this important relationship. A new volume in the Series in Affective Science, Music and Emotion; Theory and Research brings together leading researchers interested in both these topics to present the first integrative review of this subject. The first section reflects the various interdisciplinary perspectives, taking on board views from philosophy, psychology, musicology, biology, anthropology, and sociology. The second section addresses the role of our emotions in the composition of music, the ways that emotions can be communicated via musical structures, the use of music to express emotions within the cinema. The third section looks at the emotions of the performer - how do they communicate emotion, how does their emotional state affect their own performance. The final section looks at the ways in which our emotions are guided and influenced while listening to music, whether actively or passively. Music and Emotion is a timely book, one that will interest psychologists, musicologists, music educators, and philosophers.

Salivary cortisol in psychoneuroendocrine research: Recent developments and applications

Article

Feb 1994
PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINO

The assessment of cortisol in saliva has proven a valid and reliable reflection of the respective unbound hormone in blood. To date, assessment of cortisol in saliva is a widely accepted and frequently employed method in psychoneuroendocrinology. Due to several advantages over blood cortisol analyses (e.g., stress-free sampling, laboratory independence, lower costs) saliva cortisol assessment can be the method of choice in basic research and clinical environments. The determination of cortisol in saliva can facilitate stress studies including newborns and infants and replace blood sampling for diagnostic endocrine tests like the dexamethasone suppression test. The present paper provides an up-to-date overview of recent methodological developments, novel applications as well as a discussion of possible future applications of salivary cortisol determination.

Thrill in response to music and other stimuli

Article

Mar 1980

Avram Goldstein

Approximately half of those surveyed experience characteristic tingling sensations (thrills) when exposed to emotionally arousing stimuli. Music was especially effective as a stimulus. Thrills evoked by music were quantitated according to self-reports on frequency, intensity, and duration. In preliminary experiments with naloxone, an opiate receptor antagonist, thrills were attenuated in some subjects.

Effects of music treatment on salivary cortisol in patients exposed to pre-surgical stress

Article

Feb 1994
Exp Clin Endocrinol

The response of the adrenal cortex to a stressor consisting of information about a surgery to be performed the following day was studied in 34 patients by monitoring changes in salivary cortisol. From those, 18 patients were subjected to an individually selected 1 h music program, applied immediately following receipt of the information, and the remaining 16 patients formed a reference group. Another 10 patients, not awaiting surgery, served as controls. Saliva was sampled before the stressor and 5 more samples were collected at 15 min intervals. The stressor produced a 50% rise in salivary cortisol within 15 min. In patients not exposed to music, cortisol levels gradually decreased but after one hour they were markedly higher than the initial level. Listening to music resulted in a marked reduction in salivary cortisol level and after one hour the relative decrease was similar to that observed in control (non-surgical) patients.