Healthcare professionals must endeavor to fight off a daily challenge to maintain good mental and physical health: Stress. Thankfully, numerous established methods exist to effectively manage stress and burnout — and one such effective, non-invasive, cost-effective, and highly enjoyable method is listening to music.
This article delves into the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of music and how listening to music can help healthcare workers manage stress and burnout.
The physical, mental, and emotional benefits of music
It can help reduce cortisol and stress levels
It’s no secret that the healthcare profession can be incredibly stressful — when people’s lives are on the line, it’s natural for healthcare workers who have direct patient contact to deal with daily heavy emotional and physical demands.
Healthcare workers can benefit from listening to music to alleviate and reduce their stress levels. A 2013 study found that listening to music dramatically decreases cortisol levels by 61%. Cortisol, also known as the body’s stress hormone, is produced by the body during stressful situations.
Now, you might be wondering: Does the kind of music I listen to affect the level of stress reduction I get? It might seem that listening to bossa nova or classical music is more beneficial than listening to punk rock or electronic music, but a 2021 study has shown that listening to music positively influences the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the autonomous nervous system, regardless of the genre you listen to. The same study also observed that high-frequency music (528 Hz frequency) lowers cortisol, increases oxytocin, and positively impacts those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), fibromyalgia, and depression.
Even patients can benefit from music’s stress-relieving effect. A scientific study conducted in 2011 found that listening to music during the intra-operative period reduces sedative requirements to reach light sedation. Music was also observed to exert stress-reducing effects during surgery under regional anesthesia.
It can help reduce and manage burnout
Music can help reduce feelings of stress and burnout, which are rampant in the healthcare field. The number of healthcare workers experiencing burnout has been high, especially during and even after the pandemic. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 46% of health workers experienced burnout in 2022.
A 2022 study found that both passive and active engagement in music can help manage burnout in nurses. Nurses who listened to music, played an instrument, performed percussive improvisation or chanting, or even wrote music allowed nurses to cope with occupational stress better and reduce burnout outcomes. Nurses who were allowed to listen to music in work settings showed enhanced communication and engagement with colleagues. Nurses who feel connected reported to have enhanced well-being, which can prevent or lessen stress and burnout levels.
Music can help fight mental fatigue and physical tiredness
Every day, healthcare professionals experience heavy cognitive activity — their daily tasks include prioritizing patients with life-threatening conditions, making critical decisions, and communicating with patients, to name a few. Listening to music can help healthcare professionals manage their mental fatigue. In 2015, researchers found that people who listened to music after a fatigue-inducing cognitive-motor activity showed significantly less mental fatigue and improved reaction time than those who did not.
Healthcare workers who are looking to exercise after a long workday can also benefit from listening to music. According to a study, those who do low- or high-intensity exercise while listening to fast music typically perform better mentally and physically than those who exercise without music.
It boosts heart health and lowers blood pressure levels
The stressful nature of healthcare workers’ profession can put them at risk of developing hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. The prevalence of hypertension among doctors and nurses was 28% and 16.8%, respectively, according to a 2024 report. Hypertension could lead to cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks, strokes, and even heart failure, which is why it’s important to curb it with a healthy lifestyle, proper nutrition, and even good music. Listening to slow classical music can allow the body to respond positively to musical vibrations. When you listen to calming music, the vagus nerve is triggered because it’s positioned near the eardrum. This nerve instructs your body to relax and lowers your systolic blood pressure.
We hope that this article encourages you to put your headphones on and listen to your favorite tunes on your way to work, while working out, or even just relaxing at home after a long shift to help keep stress and burnout at bay.
