High school student finds classical music lowers blood pressure

COLONIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) – A local high school student completed a medical research project that combined his love for music and medicine. NEWS 10 ABC’s Carina Dominguez talked to him about his study on healing through music.

Michael Tan is a senior at Christian Brothers Academy and he had looked for a passion project over the summer, when he decided he wanted to study the role classical music plays in reducing blood pressure.

“Let’s face it, health insurance and the whole medical world is very expensive and looking for a research project that combines my interests and helping those around me was really important to me,” said Tan.

That combination got him thinking about what impact classical music would have on patients who were about to have heart procedures.

“Well music is very calming. We all have personal experiences of using music to change our emotions, either calm us down, fuel us up,” said Tan.

He conducted research at Glens Falls Hospital, where his dad is a doctor. He had patients listen to Clair de Lune, a classical piece that he played on the saxophone and pre-recorded. The results?

“They were pretty significant, not only from a pure statistical point of view where we saw a reduction of 15 and 20 points on both the top and bottom numbers of the blood pressure levels, those are systolic and diastolic. But also they just looked calmer,” said Tan.

He called it an affordable, non-invasive solution to lowering blood pressure in high-stress situations. Tan plans to major in neuroscience and wants to study at Boston College.

“I've always believed it’s very important to explore your passions. You only have four years in high school to be a kid, so try and explore everything you were interested in and if it doesn’t succeed, keep trying again. I hope to inspire others to do the same and hope to make a lasting impact on the world of medicine,” said Tan.

Last week he presented the results to the hospital’s review board. The board found Tan’s results so impressive it’s actually considering playing classical music in the pre-op waiting areas now.