Research carried out at King's College London and published in a recent edition of the scientific journal, Nature, has shed new light on the relationship between listening to music and blood pressure.

Music listening has previously been shown to lower blood pressure. This study, which was led by Vanessa C. Pope, sought to enhance that understanding by investigating whether individuals with high and normal blood pressure respond to music differently, and whether the loudness or tempo of the music plays a role in these differences.

40 subjects took part, half with high blood pressure and half with normal blood pressure. The participants listened to eight different pieces of Western classical music (with a 5-minute silent period between listenings), which had been adjusted to have different amounts of loudness, as well as faster and slower tempi.

While loudness was found to have a minimal impact on the listener, the effect of the different tempi was significant. The sped-up music was found to decrease blood-pressure variability for both groups — a finding that the researchers described as "unexpected," since it is often assumed that slower music will be more relaxing for the listener.

The researchers noted that the study only examined blood-pressure variability for "acute events" (i.e. short-term listening), and therefore, there is further scope for examining the effects of music on blood-pressure variability in the long term.

However, they speculate that the short-term physiological activation effect of music may help to explain music’s long-term cardiovascular benefits.