You’re lying on a hospital gurney, waiting for the anaesthesiologist to send you under so you can be taken into theatre and the operation can begin. Naturally, you’re nervous. But mixed with the quiet buzz of surgeons moving about is the soothing sound of piano, as classical music plays in the background, calming you, note by note.  You won’t hear it, but the music will deliver its biggest benefits once you are unconscious – lowering your blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate and leading to fewer complications and dramatically less pain when you wake up. The idea of seeing such impressive results from such a small intervention might sound fanciful, but those were the findings of research published last year. “It finally provides scientific proof for something heart doctors have noticed for years: the mind can influence the heart, even during major surgery. Showing that a simple intervention like music can change physiological responses supports how deeply the heart and mind are connected,” says Girish Viswanathan, a cardiologist at University Hospitals Plymouth, UK, who …