Effects of Music on Cardiac Functioning in Young Women and Men

Abstract

Purpose: Music not only improve quality of life but may also effect changes in heart rate. This study examined the effects of “Persian traditional music” on cardiac variability. For this purpose, heart rate signals of 62 college students (22 women and 40 men) attending Sahand University of Technology were collected. Basic Methods: Time,frequency and nonlinear features (Mean, power spectrum and Lyapunov exponents) of heart rate signals were calculated during rest and music in two groups of healthy young college students: women and men. Results: The results show that mean heart rate signals in men group increased during music; however, it decreased in the same protocol in women group. Frequency analysis reveals that maximum power spectrum of heart rate signals is higher in the women's group than that of the men's group. In addition, mean Lyapunov exponents fluctuations are higher in the women's group than that of men's groupin both conditions (during rest and music). Conclusions: The current study of heart rate (HR) time series using linear and non linear techniques has shown significant differences between before and during the music, and thus could give additional insight into the underlying dynamics of HR and in the investigation of cardiac autonomic function during music in two genders. In addition, it is concluded that music period evoke different reflections of heart rate signals in women and men.