Devotional Music and Its Effects on the Cardiovascular System

For centuries, people have intuitively accepted that music can induce relaxation. Despite this cultural know‑how, formal medicine has been slow to integrate music into clinical settings — particularly where patients are anxious. Anxiety alone does not cause chronic hypertension, but it can trigger acute rises in blood pressure and heart rate. Because even small, sustained reductions in blood pressure can lower the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, researchers are turning to non‑pharmacological tools. Indian and Western classical traditions have been explored as preventative measures. In that spirit, this study set out to quantify the effect on blood pressure and heart rate of listening to the music of the Hanuman Chalisa.

The World Health Organisation reported that in 2012 cardiovascular disease was the world’s leading killer, claiming 17.5 million lives — 7.4 million from ischaemic heart disease and 6.7 million from stroke. A modest BP reduction has been linked to fewer fatal and non‑fatal events. Equally, a faster resting heart rate — above 84 beats per minute — associates with growing risk of coronary heart disease overall and with higher mortality after myocardial infarction. Because managing established CVD is expensive and protracted, prevention is essential. Against that background we explored whether listening to the Hanuman Chalisa (a Hindu devotional hymn) could lower systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and pulse rate.

How the study was carried out

Twenty healthy MBBS students — men and women aged 18‑22 years — took part. They sat upright in a comfortable posture with the spine straight and the body at rest for the duration. For ten minutes they listened to a recording of the Hanuman Chalisa played at a low, comfortable volume.

Blood pressure was taken by auscultation with a sphygmomanometer and stethoscope. Heart rate was obtained by manual pulse count. The examiners checked that each subject had normal hearing using the whispered‑voice test. Inclusion criteria were good general health, normal hearing, and willingness to engage with the devotional hymn because participants were from a Hindu faith background. Students were excluded if they reported deafness, tinnitus, ear pain, existing hypertension, or if subscribing to beliefs preferring not to hear the Hanuman Chalisa.

Measurements of SBP, DBP and pulse rate were taken immediately before and within two minutes after the music session. The data were entered into SPSS version 13.0. A paired t‑test assessed the differences, with p < 0.05 regarded as the threshold for statistical significance.

Results: before and after the music

• Pulse rate dropped from a mean of 82.3 ± 8.32 bpm to 76.53 ± 7.97 bpm (p < 0.0008). Mean reduction 5.77 bpm.
• Systolic BP fell from 126.3 ± 13.25 mmHg to 115.68 ± 12.81 mmHg (p < 0.0001). Mean reduction 10.62 mmHg.
• Diastolic BP decreased from 75.7 ± 9.61 mmHg to 71.79 ± 9.70 mmHg (p < 0.0032). Mean reduction 3.91 mmHg.

All changes passed easily the threshold for statistical significance, with p < 0.001 overall.

Why the numbers went down: placing results in context

The improvement observed fits a chain of reasoning that begins with music and reaches hormones and the autonomic nervous system. Recreational music is thought to dampen sympathetic outflow and simultaneously promote vagal activation, plus lowering stress‑hormone levels. This integrated brain‑body response may be why ten minutes of Hanuman Chalisa triggered measurable drops in pulse and pressure.

Classic work from 1918 by Hyde and Scalapino showed that minor‑key pieces tended to lower pulse and BP, whereas stirring passages increased both. More recently, Dr. Bernardi and co‑workers demonstrated that recitations aligned at six breaths per minute — common to rosary prayers and yoga mantras — enlarged heart‑rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity, with parallel reductions in blood pressure among hypertensive patients. Studies of raga and other meditative musics confirm them a useful adjunct for lowering heart rate, while fast‑tempo beats (rap, techno, some fast classical) do the opposite.

E. J. Knight  and colleagues found that exposure to relaxing music prevented stress‑induced cortisol surges, irrespective of the listener’s gender, and simultaneously increased baseline salivary IgA — supporting music’s claims for both anxiety‑relief and immune modulation.

Burns and associates randomly assigned 56 listeners to classical, heavy rock, self‑chosen relaxing pieces, or silence. The classical and self‑selected listening groups reported noticeably more relaxation and, further, the music conditions preserved skin temperature and held heart‑rate steady relative to pre‑stress measurements. Fernel d showed that surgical patients allowed to select among 22 music styles had lower pre‑, intra‑ and post‑operative heart rates and perceived less stress compared with those without music.

Chaffin et al. reported that classical music listening assisted cardiovascular recovery from stress and meaningfully lowered systolic figures. Loomba’s meta‑analysis, aggregating the current literature, articulated a statistically highly significant decline in SBP, DBP, and heart rate under music‑therapy conditions. In a separate randomised trial of elderly Turkish hypertensive patients, Bekiroglu saw a 13‑mmHg drop with music therapy versus a 6.5‑mmHg one in the controls.

Music therapy in cardio‑respiratory physiology

Preventive programmes against cardiovascular disease largely lean on lifestyle adjustment. Stress‑reductive strategies once considered fringe — such as music therapy, progressive muscle relaxation, meditation, bio‑feedback — have entered the mainstream. Sequences that alternate fast tempi with slower passages or rests are comparable to meditative practice for inducing a calm state. This may serve in management of CVD patients.

The practical usability of music as an intervention cannot be overstated: it demands no prior training, no prep‑time; is deployable at any point in the day; proves acceptable to a wide audience; and is virtually cost‑free. While both Indian classical ragas and European Western classical genres convey beneficial effect, high‑energy, fast‑pulse music such as extensive rock, techno, rap or disco may harm physiological markers.

What still remains unclear — lacunae

Levels of salivary or serum cortisol, as well as endorphin titres, were not measured in this small trial. Including those markers would put the neuroendocrine link on a stronger footing and clarify how auditory stimuli trigger a relaxation‑reflex cascading from brain to nerves, glands, and vessels.

Summary and practical implications

In this group of young, asymptomatic students listening for roughly ten minutes produced immediate, highly significant decreases in systolic (by 10.6 mmHg), diastolic blood pressure (almost 4 mmHg), and pulse rate (by nearly 6 bpm). Single sessions of contemplative music appear to translate into swift autonomic changes. These effects may ultimately lay foundations for a lifelong, simple strategy. At population level, adopting relaxing devotional music within CVD risk‑reduction protocols squares with goals to enhance quality of life and life expectancy. Moreover, because music is inexpensive, no known adverse events attach to it, and public uptake is high, this daily habit could both improve individual wellness and dent the spiralling economic costs of cardiovascular disease.