Music while under the knife reduces anxiety

Playing music to patients while they go under the knife reduces their anxiety and may even aid healing, surgeons say.

Easy listening tracks and chart hits can have a calming effect on patients who are awake for surgery under local anesthetic, a team at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford found. The small study, published in Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons, tracked the progress of 96 patients having minor surgery at the hospital.

Half of the patients were played music chosen by the surgical staff – while the other half had their operation under the usual ‘hushed’ conditions. After the surgery was completed the patients were asked to rate how anxious they had felt during the operation.

The group played music scored about a third less on anxiety levels and were also noted to have more relaxed breathing patterns during the surgery – an average of 11 breaths per minute compared to 13 breaths per minute in the non-music group.

Read the original BBC news report http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17525232