Music helps in prenatal stress

Pregnant women can ease their stress and anxiety by simply settling back with relaxing music.Researchers from Japan examined the effects of music therapy on stress, anxiety and depression in pregnant women. They studied 236 pregnant women and randomly assigned them to either a music group or a group that stayed with standard prenatal care alone. Women in the music group were asked to listen to any of 4 CDs for 30 minutes per day over 2 weeks. The music included classical, lullabies, nature sounds and children's music. The data was collected through questionnaires on stress, anxiety and depression symptoms at the beginning and at the end of the study. After 2 weeks, the researchers found that the women in the music group had general improvement on all three fronts, while stress, anxiety and depression scores remained unchanged in the comparison group. The findings suggest that music could offer a simple, do-it-yourself way to manage prenatal stress. It may provide sensory input that affects the nervous and hormonal system, which in turn could calm the physiological response to daily stress. It was concluded that music is a simple, inexpensive way for women to deal with the stress of pregnancy. Further research is, however, needed to test the long-term benefits of music therapy.

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