Tailored music session may reduce stress hormone within 24 minutes

A brief session of customized music combined with rhythmic sounds may help bring down a stress hormone, according to a small study. The method led to a greater drop in cortisol than a steady background noise, though some results were affected by outlying observations.

Both groups said they felt less anxious afterward. That makes the research notable: what participants reported and what their bodies showed did not always line up exactly.

Researchers at Toronto Metropolitan University studied 83 university students who had experienced at least one recent symptom of general anxiety. Participants were randomly assigned to listen for 24 minutes either to personalized music with auditory beats or to pink noise at a similar volume.

The study, published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology, looked at several responses instead of relying only on questionnaires. These included cortisol, heart-rate changes and brain activity patterns connected to emotion.

Cortisol is a hormone involved in the body’s stress response. While it can offer one clue about stress, a single reading does not fully capture a person’s mental health.

The music was chosen to start close to the listener’s current mood and gradually shift toward a calmer state. The added rhythmic sounds, known as auditory beat stimulation, were meant to enhance the listening experience.

The comparison group heard pink noise, a continuous sound with more energy at lower frequencies than a sharp hiss. Keeping the listening time and volume the same helped the researchers compare two structured sound sessions.

Fifteen minutes after the listening session ended, the cortisol decrease was more than twice as large in the music group. The team also saw differences in brain measures tied to emotional regulation.

Even so, both groups reported better anxiety and mood. Heart-rate variability, which reflects small differences in the timing between heartbeats, was also broadly similar, so the music did not clearly beat pink noise on every measure.

The biological findings should be interpreted cautiously because some depended on a small number of unusual observations. In a study this size, such values can strongly affect the apparent difference between groups and the confidence scientists place in it.

The experiment also combined personalized music with auditory beats, so it cannot show which element may have provided any added benefit. And a single session in students cannot determine whether the approach would treat a diagnosed anxiety disorder or work over the long term.

The results point to the value of further study into carefully designed listening sessions. A larger trial could examine whether the hormone changes are dependable, how long they last, and whether personalization or the added rhythms make the biggest difference.

For broader related reading on nutrition and health, please see articles about Diet can have a big impact on sleep quality, and Healthy eating linked to better brain health.

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Source: Toronto Metropolitan University.