"The groundwork of all happiness is health." - Leigh Hunt

The surprisingly easy measure that may aid you recuperate after surgery

Oct. 21, 2024 – Surgery? You will probably want to pack headphones in your hospital stay.

An early review of 35 studies found that listening to music after surgery will help reduce pain, anxiety and heart rate. According to the study presented on the, it can also help reduce the quantity of painkillers (like morphine) you wish American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress in San Francisco and has not yet been published in an expert journal.

“When you wake up from anesthesia, sometimes people are very scared,” said Dr. Eldo Frezza, senior writer of the study and professor of surgery at California Northstate University College of Medicine in Elk Grove. “I've had patients attack me and almost have a heart attack – so if we can reduce that, that's really important.”

The study builds early but growing research This suggests that music will help promote health and treat illness. Music calms you down and might lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, researchers say, providing relief Fear And pain.

So why isn't there music playing in every recovery room? Most hospitals should not designed to supply patients with personalized music after surgery. Frezza hopes that as his research gains traction, more evidence will follow to persuade healthcare leaders to collaborate. If the finding that music reduces morphine consumption holds true, it could help save costs, he said.

Some hospital systems offer this Music therapya personalised intervention that could be used during medical treatment.

“There is a difference between music and music therapy,” said Joanne Loewy, DA, founding director of the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. A music therapist “can figure out what music should be played, for how long, whether it is live or recorded”—and what tempos and volumes would best support a patient’s healing.

According to Loewy, personalized music therapy is played at a patient's bedside, often with the curtain drawn, and is designed based on individual patient assessments. Another strategy, called environmental music therapy, brings live music to noisy hospital intensive care units to calm many patients without delay.

But more detailed research on music and recovery rates is required, Loewy said.

“There are very few studies that actually involve patient-selected music,” she said. “If it’s jazz, is it Louis Armstrong or Kenny Rankin? If it's classical, is it Mozart or is it Rachmaninoff? We’re talking about centuries of differences here – you can’t just offer genres.”

In the brand new study, researchers couldn't pinpoint specific variables, reminiscent of how long you take heed to music or what kind of music is best for healing. For now, try listening to the music you want, whether through headphones or a speaker in case you feel prefer it after surgery, the researchers suggested.