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Listening to music can lower cholesterol levels and improve heart health



I found the following article on the net. You will find different versions 
of it but they all say more or less the same "Listening to music can lower 
cholesterol levels and improve heart health, according to a new study"

My source: 
http://www.andhranews.net/Health/2008/December/21-Listening-music-80150.asp

London, Dec 21 : Listening to music can lower cholesterol levels and 
improve heart health, according to a new study.

During their study, researchers at Maryland University found that if a 
patient listens to 30 minutes a day of their favourite music, it does more 
than relaxing them mentally - it also benefits them physically by 
expanding and clearing blood vessels.

The method has been tried on some patients in America and it has been 
welcomed by British experts.

Music is believed to work by triggering the release into the bloodstream 
of nitric oxide, which helps to prevent the build-up of blood clots and 
harmful cholesterol.

The researchers have found that songs by Red Hot Chili Peppers and Madonna 
can improve endurance, while 18th-century symphonies can improve mental 
focus.

However, when it comes to the effect on the bloodstream, the key is not 
the type of music but what the listener prefers. The same is true of 
volume and tempo.

"The music effect lasts in the bloodstream for only a few seconds but the 
accumulative benefit of favourite tunes lasts and can be very positive in 
people of all ages," Times Online quoted Michael Miller, director of the 
Center for Preventive Cardiology at Maryland University, who conducted the 
study, as saying.

"We were looking for cheaper, nonpharmacological aids to help us improve 
our patients' heart health and we think this is the prescription," he 
added.

The study, based on healthy non-smoking men and women with an average age 
of 36, found the diameter of blood vessels in the upper arm expanded by 26 
percent in volunteers listening to music they found enjoyable.

Miller said blood vessel expansion indicated that nitric oxide was being 
released throughout the body, reducing clots and LDL, a form of 
cholesterol linked to heart attacks.

He also warned that listening to stressful music, which for many in the 
experiments included heavy metal and rap, can shrink blood vessels by 6 
percent.

Miller also advised parents to avoid listening to their teenage children's 
music if it upset them because it could be the aural equivalent of passive 
smoking.

"I like Merseybeat-era Beatles and Julia from their White Album and you 
cannot get two more different types of song, but I think both work for my 
heart," he said.

---
Sjaak
http://www.livelooping.be/
http://www.overgaauw.be/
http://www.myspace.com/sjaakovergaauw

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