According to a study published in the journal, ‘Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine’, music is an effective alternative to sedative medications as it helps to reduce anxiety prior to any surgery, which is important.
By elevating the levels of stress hormones circulating in the body, anxiety can obstruct a patient’s recovery process. Before the surgery, patients commonly take benzodiazepines drug like midazolam. Such drugs have the potential of causing adverse effects, like problems with blood flow and breathing. Ironically, they can trigger anxiety in some patients. On the other hand, music is virtually harm-free and inexpensive too.
Dr. Veena Graff, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor of clinical anaesthesiology at the University of Pennsylvania, says, “Music lights up the emotional area of the brain, the reward system and the pleasure pathways. It means patients can be in their own world, they can be comfortable and have full control.”
The study investigates whether music reduces anxiety or not. It compared music with midazolam, delivered intravenously. The team assigned around 150 adults who were scheduled to undergo surgery with a type of anaesthetic known as a peripheral nerve block, it blocks pain to a specific area of the body which involves the arms, hands, legs and feet.
They were divided into two groups and given two different methods three minutes before receiving the peripheral nerve block. First group had 80 patients who were injected with one or two milligrams of midazolam. The second group had 77 patients, who were given noise-cancelling headphones, playing Marconi Union’s ‘Weightless’, and is dubbed as the world’s most relaxing song.
Using standardized questionnaires, the researchers compared how the levels of anxiety, of both the groups changed after receiving either the midazolam or the music. It was found that music was an effective method for medication in calming patient’s nerves.
“Further studies are warranted to evaluate whether or not the type of music, as well as how it is delivered, offers advantages over midazolam that outweigh the increase in communication barriers,” Graff and her co-authors write.
