Opera ’is music for the heart’ 歌劇是心臟的音樂

Listening to the right kind of music can slow the heart and lower blood pressure, a study has revealed. Rousing operatic music, like Puccini’s Nessun Dorma, full of crescendos and diminuendos is best and could help stroke rehabilitation, say the authors.

研究顯示，聽對的音樂，可以減緩心跳並降低血壓。活潑的歌劇音樂，像普契尼的公主徹夜未眠，充滿漸強與漸弱的音樂最好，有助中風復健，研究作者們指出。

Music is already used holistically at the bedside in many hospitals.Not only is it cheap and easy to administer, music has discernible physical effects on the body as well as mood, Circulation journal reports.

音樂已經被許多醫院全面用在病床邊。不只是因為音樂便宜又容易控制，也因為音樂對身體與心靈的影響顯而易見。「循環」期刊的報告說。

Music with a faster tempo increases breathing, heart rate and blood pressure, while slower-pace music does the reverse.

節奏較快的音樂增加呼吸，心跳速度與血壓，較慢的音樂有相反的效果。

Dr Luciano Bernardi and colleagues, from Italy’s Pavia University, asked 24 healthy volunteers to listen to five random tracks of classical music and monitored how their bodies responded. They included selections from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, an aria from Puccini’s Turandot, Bach’s cantata No 169.

義大利帕維亞大學的伯納迪醫師與同僚，要求24名健康的志願者，聆聽5段隨意選取的古典音樂片段，並觀察他們的身體如何反應。這些音樂包括貝多芬的第9號交響曲，普契尼杜蘭朵公主的一個詠嘆調，巴哈的169號清唱劇等等。

Every musical crescendo "aroused" the body and led to narrowing of blood vessels under the skin, increased blood pressure and heart rate and increased respiratory rates. Conversely, the diminuendos caused relaxation, which slowed heart rate and lowered blood pressure.

每個音樂的漸強「激發」身體，導致皮膚底下的血管收縮，增加血壓與心跳，增加呼吸速度；相反地，漸弱會讓人放鬆，減緩心跳速度與降低血壓。

新聞辭典

rousing：形容詞，鼓動人心的。例句：She delivered a rousing speech full of anger and passion.（她滿懷憤怒與激情地，發表了一席激動人心的演說。）

holistic：形容詞，全面的。例句：Ecological problems usually require holistic solutions.（生態問題通常需要全面性的解決方法。）

discernible：形容詞，顯而易見的。例句： The influence of Rodin is discernible in the younger artist.（這位年輕藝術家明顯地受到羅丹影響。）