Music can help recovery from surgery, research suggests

A new scientific report has looked into the positive impact that listening to music can have on both physical and mental health.

Among the key findings of the study was the revelation that listening to music can help people’s recovery from surgery by slowing their heart rate and taking their minds off any pain they might be feeling. The study said listening to music, whether via headphones or a speaker, had “noticeable effects” on surveyed patients during their period of recovery from surgery, and that the patients who listened to music received less than half of the amount of morphine that the patients who did not listen to music were given.

The new report was presented at the latest American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress in San Francisco, but has not yet been peer-reviewed.

“Although we can’t specifically say they’re in less pain, the studies revealed that patients perceive they are in less pain,” Shehzaib Raees, one of the scientists involved in the research, was quoted as saying by The Independent. 

Eldo Frezza of California Northstate University College of Medicine added: “Music can help ease the transition from the waking up stage to a return to normalcy and may help reduce stress around that transition. We think music can help people in different ways after surgery because music can be comforting and make you feel like you’re in a familiar place.”

You can also read our recent feature exploring the relationship between ambient music and mental health.