In an emergency trial, a virtual forest plus classical music lowered blood pressure a little faster

What the research found

Study (randomized trial, congress report). Safa Donmez, Kadir Yenal, and colleagues presented at the European Emergency Med. Congress in Paris (abstract OA071; EurekAlert 25 September 2026; session 26 September 2026). One hundred thirty adults with hypertensive urgency, blood pressure high enough to treat but without signs of acute organ damage, were split into 65 and 65. Everyone received standard pressure-lowering treatment. The intervention group also wore a headset showing a river through a forest and listened to a classical playlist. Mean arterial pressure in the control group fell from 138 mmHg to 126 at 15 minutes and 119 at 30 minutes (about 8 percent and 14 percent). In the headset group it fell from 132 mmHg to 116 and then 112 (about 12 percent and 15 percent). The extra drop was about 4 to 5 mmHg at 15 minutes and was statistically significant; from 60 minutes the groups were essentially the same. Trait-anxiety scores started higher in the headset group (about 46 versus 38) and fell by about eight points versus about four. No one dropped out. Limits: one hospital, two-hour follow-up, headset and music always used together, groups differed at the start, and staff could see who had the headset. Felix Lorang, who was not an author, said the approach was studied in addition to that treatment, not instead of it. Educational research notes. Not a home treatment for a hypertensive emergency.

Evidence level: Clinical trial. This is among the stronger kinds of evidence, but one study rarely settles a question.

Read the original at European Society for Emergency Medicine / EurekAlert