Can 36 minutes of specially tuned music ‘reset’ an anxious brain?

Can 36 minutes of specially tuned music 'reset' an anxious brain?

Is there a magical duration for music to relieve anxiety? A new study may have found a sweet spot.

Past research has discovered numerous health benefits of music, including improving mood, cardiovascular health, and cognitive function.
A new study found that scientifically designed music may provide better immediate relief from anxiety than pink noise.
When paired with auditory beat stimulation (ABS), the researchers saw that those who listened to music for as little as 24 minutes showed significantly reduced anxiety symptoms.

Many people nowadays choose to listen to pink noise, which is background sounds similar to rain or static, to relax, fall asleep, or drown out unwanted sounds such as traffic or neighbors.

But when it comes to easing anxiety, a new study, published in the journal PLOS Mental Health, shows that it may not be the best tool.

To test this, scientists explored how music, particularly music embedded with auditory beat stimulation (ABS), affected anxiety symptoms.

ABS is a technique that uses steady, rhythmic pulses of sound to shift the brain’s rhythm, switching it from a “stressed” to a “relaxed” speed/state.

As part of this study, researchers from Goldsmiths, University of London, and the University of Roehampton in the United Kingdom, and experts from Toronto Metropolitan University and the digital health company LUCID in Canada, examined whether spending more time listening to “meditative” music with embedded ABS led to greater relief in anxiety.

The researchers randomly assigned 144 adult participants, who were already taking anti-anxiety medication, to one of the following four groups:

control group (24 minutes of pink noise): 36 participants
12 minutes of music + ABS group: 41 participants
24 minutes of music + ABS group: 33 participants
36 minutes of music + ABS group: 34 participants.

They used pink noise as a control group to see if music embedded with ABS actually had an effect on anxiety levels.

The researchers measured the participants’ anxiety and mood before and after the sessions using standardized clinical scales to track the immediate (acute) changes.

The researchers found a “dose-response” link between the amount of time people listened to music and their mood.

Participants who listened to music with ABS for 24 minutes experienced the strongest overall reduction in anxiety. People who listened to music for 36 minutes showed a “peak” effect and saw similar improvements in mood and a larger reduction in negative feelings. Those who listened for only 12 minutes did not see as great an improvement.

Participants didn’t only experience lowered anxiety, either. They also reported a general reduction in feelings like irritability, jitteriness, and distress, and felt more emotionally balanced overall.

The fact that all participants were already taking medication for anxiety and that they experienced relief with ABS and music shows that such tools may be a good complementary therapy to already existing treatments.

Medical News Today spoke to four experts — Peter Vernig, PhD, MBA, VP of Mental Health Services at Recovery Centers of America, Michael S. Valdez, MD, physician with a background in neurology and addiction medicine, Connie McReynolds, PhD, licensed psychologist specializing in ADHD, anxiety, and trauma, and Tessa Jesus, MT-BC, board certified music therapist and music integration manager at Youth Villages, to see how this intervention works.

How music helps calm anxiety

Previous research has found that music can benefit cardiovascular health and cognitive health. The effects of music on the brain and mood have also been documented by numerous studies.

“[N]euroscience has studied that music is processed in multiple areas of the brain because not only are we hearing the sounds, but we are processing the words, connecting to memories associated with that song, and potentially experiencing an emotional reaction. The activation in the brain only increases when someone is playing an instrument, singing, or even watching someone play music. We know music changes the brain,” said Jesus.

However, music embedded with ABS operates differently. To achieve this effect, first, the music starts playing at a speed that matches the person’s current heart rate, which is likely elevated due to stress/anxiety.

Then, the music slows to encourage the mood to shift into a calmer state, a phenomenon the researchers called the Iso-Principle. Thanks to the hidden pulses of ABS, the brainwaves then slowly sync up with the slower, more relaxed frequency.

How does this differ from traditional music therapy?

Past studies have shown that personal preference and musical taste significantly influence the emotional impact of traditional music-based therapy on mental health.

“While I cannot speak to how different genres of music may impact the efficacy of this particular study and tool, I can speak to how music therapists use music. It is always important to use client-preferred music when a music therapist is addressing an individual’s goals through music therapy. What is motivating, enjoyable, or helps to express emotions for one person may be completely different for someone else,” Jesus said.

“Music therapists use music as their tool to address clinical needs—and if a music therapist was addressing anxiety, they would work closely with their client to determine what music helps them to feel more regulated when anxious, and in what method they most want to engage with music, i.e., listening, singing, or playing instruments,” she explained.

However, with ABS-embedded music, the working mechanism is different.

“Although traditional music therapy is heavily dependent on patients’ preference for certain music to trigger the brain’s reward system, this study focused on acoustics, not aesthetics. This form of therapy attempts to use the tempo and other aspects of the music to match the patients’ emotional state (e.g., anxious or stressed) and then use changes in the music to shift that state towards calm,” Vernig said.

How does this compare to active music listening, and can people get the same benefits on their own?

“Active music listening is top-down, in which the brain consciously processes elements of the music (like lyrics and tune) to trigger emotional responses. ABS music seeks to bypass conscious thought and impact brain activity,” Vernig said.

“I would not equate this kind of intervention with casual listening. Active music listening on your own can absolutely help with stress, but structured therapeutic use is a little different. The intent is more specific, the dose is controlled, and the response is being measured rather than assumed,” said Valdez.

McReynolds underscored that this intervention is not the same as listening to a playlist.

“For the study, the selection of music is based on the person’s self-reported mood and energy level which is designed to move the person toward a calmer state. Simply listening to calming music at home may help, but it is not replicating what this study tested,” she said.

Meanwhile, Jesus urged caution in labeling ABS as therapy, instead calling it a useful tool.

“While people cannot get the same benefits of auditory beat stimulation on their own without being provided with tools and methods from an expert, an individual can absolutely use their preferred music to help reduce their anxiety in a different way. Having an understanding of ways you can use music for yourself to help calm your anxiety, to help you relax before bed, or to increase your energy at the gym, can provide great benefit within your daily life, though different from auditory beat stimulation’s potential impact on the brain,” she said.

How do we know if music is just a distraction or actually changing the brain?

“Distraction works as long as the distractor is present (i.e. as long as you are listening to the music). When something has a calming effect, that emotion should persist after the withdrawal of the stimulus. If the brain shifts from the ‘fight or flight‘ state to the calm ‘rest and digest’ state, this is evidence of that effect,” Vernig explained.

“The brain can benefit from distraction, so that is not a trivial effect. But distraction is not the whole story. If someone has lower physiological arousal, less muscle tension, and less subjective anxiety after the session, that suggests something more than just passing attention capture,” Valdez said.

Meanwhile, McReynolds drew attention to the pink noise used in the study.

“The researchers chose to use pink noise rather than silence for the comparison group. Pink noise keeps the person’s ears engaged without rousing emotion. So, when the selected music consistently outperformed the use of the pink noise, this supports the consideration that the intervention yielded an outcome that was beyond simple distraction,” she said.