- Research shows that listening to tennis balls being hit can reduce anxiety
- Listening to the 'deep base note' of a beat can reduce stress by up to half
Watching the action unfold on Center Court can be a nerve-wracking affair. So you might be surprised to hear that the impact of a tennis racket on the ball actually brings bounce back into your life.
Described as a deep bass note with a subtle sharpness and variable pitch, it can reduce anxiety, research shows.
Scientists found that stress levels dropped by half in people with chronic anxiety after listening to the 'soothing sound' of tennis.
The researchers think the reason for this may be that the frequencies and other characteristics of the sound of a racket hitting the ball have a calming effect on the brain, because the rhythm generated – of about one second between each stroke – is similar to the rhythm of popular music. .
De-stresser? Researchers in China found that listening to tennis balls being hit can reduce anxiety by up to half
The study involved 100 people with chronic anxiety, who were divided into two groups, one of which listened to five minutes of tennis, with anxiety levels measured before and after.
The complaints remained the same in the control group, but decreased significantly in the tennis group.
The decrease varied from person to person, but could be as much as 50 percent. Writing in the journal Frontiers In Psychology, researchers from China West Normal University claimed that the stable rhythm allowed the brain to predict the next sound, creating a sense of order and calm.