Music listening speeds up brain recovery after stress in new Beijing study
A research team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing found that listening to music helps the brain and body recover faster from stress than water sounds.
Study participants completed stressful math task
Researchers asked 120 healthy adults to finish a time-pressured mental math exercise designed to trigger stress. Afterward, the volunteers were split into groups that listened to either music or calming water sounds while scientists monitored their physical responses.
Music listeners showed faster heart rate drop
People who heard music reported better mood improvements and saw quicker drops in sweating and heart rate. Measures of heart-rate variability and cortisol levels also indicated a faster return to normal for this group compared to those hearing water sounds.
Scans reveal specific brain region changes
Functional MRI scans showed that music altered communication between three key areas including the auditory cortex, insula and thalamus. The auditory cortex processes sound while the insula handles emotional awareness and the thalamus acts as a relay station.
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