Meal times in eating disorder (ED) recovery can be an anxious stressful mess, both in the lead up and the aftermath.
A recent study by Meneguzzo, P., Baron, E., Marchesin, S. et al. (2004) has revealed that background music during mealtimes helped maintain positive emotions in study participants pre and post meal, whilst silence during meal times reduced positive emotional states. Those that had music exposure did better on the food front, with less uneaten food and less eating rituals than the ‘no-music’ participants.
The study was conducted on female ED patients in a hospital setting within three groups, no-music, pop music and calm piano music.
There were no big differences between the different types of music groups in results, so whether you put on your Beethoven or Beyonce, it looks like its good news all round
Whilst these studies are in their early days its great to see some research looking into how to make meal times easier and less stressful in recovery.