Characteristics of music to improve the quality of sleep

Authors

  • Ami Yamasato Graduate School of Medicine, Tokai University
  • Mayu Kondo Course of Music, Department of Arts, School of Humanities & Culture, Tokai University
  • Shunya Hoshino Department of Psychiatry, Kouseikai Sagamidai Hospital
  • Jun Kikuchi Department of Nursing, Japan University of Health Sciences
  • Shigeki Okino Course of Music, Department of Arts, School of Humanities & Culture, Tokai University, Hiratsuka, Japan
  • Kenji Yamamoto Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Tokai University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47513/mmd.v11i3.643

Abstract

Background: Several studies on the effects of music on sleep disorders have demonstrated that music listening can improve sleep quality in patients with sleep disorders. To our knowledge, nevertheless, none of them have elucidated the characteristics of such music itself.

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to elucidate the characteristics of the types of music that improve sleep quality.

Methods: In twenty five tracks used in the previous study, we calculated four analysis indicators: scaling exponent of the spectrum of melody's zero-crossings, redundancy of note values, density of notes and tempo.

Results: The characteristics of music to improve sleep quality were slow tempo, small change of rhythm, and moderate pitch variation of melody. Based on the results derived from cluster analysis, the music pieces studied were largely categorized into 3 groups. A comparison of these 3 groups showed no significant differences with respect to the scaling exponent of the melody and the density of notes, whereas it showed significant differences with respect to the redundancy of note values and tempo.

Conclusions: Our study revealed several characteristics of the types of music that improve sleep quality. The identification of these characteristics contributes to providing personalized music therapy to patients.

Author Biographies

Ami Yamasato, Graduate School of Medicine, Tokai University

Ami Yamasato, RMT(Japan), MMSc, is a PhD student in the Graduate School of Medicine at Tokai University, and is also a music therapist in a nursing care home, Seisho-en.

Mayu Kondo, Course of Music, Department of Arts, School of Humanities & Culture, Tokai University

Mayu Kondo, RMT(Japan), PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Course of Music, Graduate School of Arts at Tokai University, and is also a Councillor of Japanese Music Therapy Association, a Director of Japanese Association for Music Psychology and Therapy and an editorial board member of the on-line journal of Japan Society of Music and Medicine.

Shunya Hoshino, Department of Psychiatry, Kouseikai Sagamidai Hospital

Shunya Hoshino, MD, PhD, is a psychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry at Kouseikai Sagamidai Hospital, and is also a musician.

Jun Kikuchi, Department of Nursing, Japan University of Health Sciences

Jun Kikuchi, MA, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nursing, School of Health Sciences at Japan University of Health Sciences, and is also a psychiatric nurse.

Shigeki Okino, Course of Music, Department of Arts, School of Humanities & Culture, Tokai University, Hiratsuka, Japan

Shigeki Okino, BS, MA, is a Professor and Chair of the Course of Music, Graduate School of Arts at Tokai University, and is also Chair of the Committee on Cultural Promotion at Hiratsuka City.

Kenji Yamamoto, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Tokai University

Kenji Yamamoto, MD, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine at Tokai University, and is also a psychiatrist at Tokai University Hospital.

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Published

2019-07-26

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