Effects of Music on Cardiovascular Responses in Men with Essential Hypertension Compared with Healthy Men Based on Introversion and Extraversion

Abstract

Introduction: The present research investigated the effects of two different types of music on cardiovascular responses in essential hypertensive men in comparison with healthy men based on introversion and extraversion. Methods: One hundred and thirteen hypertensive men referred to Madani Heart Hospital in Tabriz completed the NEO-FFI Questionnaire and after obtaining acceptable scores were classified in four groups: introvert patients, extravert patients, introvert healthy subjects, and extravert healthy subjects (each group with 25 samples with age range 31-50). Baseline blood pressure and heart rate of each subject was recorded without any stimulus. Then subjects were exposed to slow-beat music and blood pressure and heart rate were recorded. After15 minute break, and a little cognitive task for distraction, subjects were exposed to fast-beat music and blood pressure and heart rate were recorded again. Results: Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) test showed that extravert patient subjects obtained greater reduction in systolic blood pressure and heart rate after presenting slow-beat music compared with introvert patients (P= 0.035, and P= 0.033 respectively). And extravert healthy subjects obtained greater reduction in heart rate after presenting slow-beat music compared with introvert healthy subjects (P= 0.036). However, there are no significant differences between introvert and extravert groups in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate after presenting fast-beat music. Conclusion: Based on our results, introvert subjects experience negative emotions more than extravert subjects and negative emotions cause less change in blood pressure in these subjects compared with extravert subjects.

A Gender-Based Study of Sensation Seeking in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease Compared with Healthy Subjects

“…This is in line with the results of a study by Namdar et al, who showed that healthy females scored higher than female patients in subscales of thrill and adventure seeking [13]. In another study on the relationship between personality traits and cardiovascular responses to music, extravert male subjects showed a greater reduction in heart rate and blood pressure than introvert male subjects [22]. Considering that there is a relationship between sensation seeking and extraversion, and that sensation seeking could be seen as a subset of extraversion [23], the findings of the present study could be considered consistent with the findings of the above mentioned study.…”

Association Between Extraversion Personality With the Blood Pressure Level in Adolescents

“…Arkwright et al found that the prevalence of hypertension was three times more in introvertive male drinkers than in extrovertive male drinkers, but the effect disappeared in drinkers who also smoked (22). Namdar et al also reported that introvertive healthy participants and hypertensive patients had a higher heart rate, a systolic and diastolic BP than the extrovertive ones, and after music intervention, the extrovertive ones obtained a greater reduction in SBP (13). Consistent with most previous studies, we found that a high extraversion score was positively associated with a lower BP in adolescents.…”

“…In personality psychology, introversion/extraversion is a dimension with the range between the two extremes, and within this range, there are people who are neither extrovert nor introvert ( 13 ). Eysenck suggests a concept that extroverts have fairly strong inhibitory processes but poor excitability.…”

“…Similarly, another cross-sectional study also found that work-related stress was positively associated with cardiovascular risk among employees of a logistics company for safety in communications and flight ( 17 ). However, a few studies evaluated the impact of personality characteristics on the BP level ( 13 , 20 , 21 ). For example, Hozawa et al found that the extraversion score was positively correlated with the systolic BP level ( 20 ), whereas the other two studies reported that extroversion personality was negatively associated with the BP level ( 13 , 22 ).…”

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Listening to Recorded Music for Heart Failure Patients

“…7 An important nonpharmacological treatment already used for cardiovascular patients, and other patient populations, is music listening. Music has been used as a therapeutic tool for populations with cardiovascular diseases including coronary heart disease (CHD), 16 heart failure, 17 hypertension, 18 cardiac rehabilitation, 19 cardiac surgery, 20 and during cardiac diagnostic procedures. 21 Several investigators have found that listening to music influences QOL, 22 psychological distress, 23 anxiety, 24 depression, 25 mood, 26 blood pressure, 27 heart rate (HR), 28 and quality of sleep.…”