Breathing is the one part of our physiology we can both ignore completely and take deliberate charge of. Most of the day it runs quietly in the background, yet the moment we notice it, it tends to slow and steady. Music has a curious relationship with that rhythm: put on a slow, spacious piece and many people find their breath lengthening to meet it, without ever deciding to.
The breath and the beat
We are rhythmic creatures, inclined to move with the sounds around us. Fast, driving music often nudges breathing to become quicker and shallower, while slow, sustained music seems to invite a longer, gentler cycle. This is not just a poetic impression — it shows up when researchers measure breathing rate and heart rate as people listen. It does not mean a given song will do a fixed thing to everyone; preference and setting matter too. But as a general pattern, the pace of the music and the pace of the breath appear to be in quiet conversation.
What slower music seems to do
A much-cited study by Luciano Bernardi and colleagues, published in Heart in 2006, played different styles of music to listeners while recording their responses. Faster tempi were associated with increases in breathing rate, heart rate and blood pressure, and this seemed to track the speed of the music rather than its genre. Slower pieces worked the other way, and a flowing raga was linked to a notable fall in heart rate. The detail that gave the paper its subtitle was silence: the pauses between tracks appeared to lower heart rate and breathing even below the starting point — a reminder that the space in music can matter as much as the notes.
Music that gently guides the breath
Could music be designed to slow the breath on purpose? A 2019 project from the MIT Media Lab, described by Grace Leslie and colleagues as Engineering Music to Slow Breathing and Invite Relaxed Physiology, tested interactive pieces set to around six breaths a minute, or personalised to each listener’s own pace. Across the designs, the music was associated with slower breathing — the personalised version most of all — alongside reductions in markers of arousal such as heart rate. The suggestion is not that a playlist can be prescribed, but that music can act as a gentle pacer, offering the breath something unhurried to follow.
A simple breathing-and-music moment
Turning this into practice needs no special equipment: the idea is simply to give the breath some slow, spacious sound to keep it company for a few minutes. Instrumental pieces are often easier to settle with, and music with a gentle tempo leaves the kind of open space that suits a long, easy exhale. Let the first minute pass without changing anything, then allow the breath to lengthen a little. It is worth seeing this as a general habit rather than a fix: a broad 2020 review in Health Psychology Review by Martina de Witte and colleagues found that, across many studies, listening to music was associated with modest reductions in markers of stress such as heart rate and cortisol. The music is not doing the work alone, and neither is the breath — they simply support each other.
Finding the right sound
Slow, breath-friendly music sits close to several other kinds of listening. For a longer seated practice there is our music for meditation, and for the evening wind-down, music for a calmer bedtime. The same spacious sound overlaps with music for stress relief and the gentler end of music for anxiety, while breath and posture meet in music for yoga. Different doors, really, into the same unhurried way of listening — with the breath quietly keeping time.
If you would like something ready-made to breathe along to, our Enjoy Life section gathers calm, relaxed soundscapes, while the EMC Yoga collection pairs sound with the breath and gentle movement.
Sources
- Bernardi L, Porta C, Sleight P. Cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory changes induced by different types of music in musicians and non-musicians: the importance of silence. Heart, 2006. Read the study
- Leslie G, et al. Engineering Music to Slow Breathing and Invite Relaxed Physiology. MIT Media Lab, 2019. Read the study
- de Witte M, Spruit A, van Hooren S, Moonen X, Stams GJ. Effects of music interventions on stress-related outcomes: a systematic review and two meta-analyses. Health Psychology Review, 2020. Read the study
Image credit: Envato Elements.
Created with the help of artificial intelligence.
