Put a song in your heart

Listening to music may offer a range of benefits for cardiovascular health.

Music's capacity to evoke emotion is one reason people love listening to it so much. Whether you want to feel energized and uplifted or calm and relaxed, you can probably conjure a few examples of melodies that put you in your desired frame of mind. As it turns out, those mood-related benefits may extend to your heart.

"The beating of your heart and your fight-or-flight system are regulated by your brain. Once you understand that, it makes sense that listening to music that evokes a certain mood might affect the heart's function," says Dr. Andrew Budson, a lecturer in neurology at Harvard Medical School and chief of cognitive and behavioral neurology at the VA Boston Healthcare System.