Crazy-hectic day at the office? Just take a dose of…Norah Jones. Music can reduce stress levels—sometimes even more effectively than prescription drugs, according to a review published recently in Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
For the large-scale review, researchers examined about 400 papers on the neurochemistry of music. Fifteen of the papers showed that people’s levels of the stress hormone cortisol dropped after they listened to relaxing music, says Mona Lisa Chanda, PhD, a postgraduate research fellow in the psychology department at McGill University in Montreal and first author on the paper. One study that the researchers looked at compared the pre-surgery effect of taking midazolam, an anti-anxiety and sleepiness-inducing drug used before procedures, to simply listening to music instead. It showed that anxiety decreased significantly more in the music group than in the group that had been treated with drugs. Calming music is also associated with decreases in heart rate, pulse, blood pressure, and muscle tension, says Chanda.
So what exactly qualifies as “relaxing” music? Think songs with slow tempos and not much in the way of percussion, says Chanda. “In general, it tends to mimic relaxing sounds in nature—soft and low-pitched, like maternal sounds or the purring of a cat,” she says.
Need some inspiration for your very own cool-down playlist? Load these songs onto your MP3 player so you can just hit “play” the next time you need to unwind. They all have about 60 to 80 beats per minute.
“Come Away with Me” by Norah Jones
“I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz
“Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2” by Chopin
“The Scientist” by Coldplay
“Tiny Dancer” by Elton John
“Jar of Hearts” by Christina Perri
“True Colors” by Cyndi Lauper
More from Women’s Health:
Relaxation Techniques at Work
Use Deep Breathing Exercises to Relax
Relaxation Techniques to Fall Asleep