When music relaxes us, it heals us. As smoothing melodies enter our mind, stress and anxiety leave. Music also has an amazing ability to take us back to happier, more carefree times.
But music has the power to do much more than ease our anxiety or remind us of a forgotten love, it can improve our health by strengthening the immune system, lowering blood pressure, stimulating brainwaves, excelerating the ability to learn and putting the mind to a positive state.
Music Our Birth Right
Studies done by ear, nose and throat doctor Alfred A. Tomatis indicated that listening to music by Mozart stimulates spatio-temporal brain activity and increases IQ in students. The so called 'Mozart effect' has been disputed by other researchers but no one attempts to dispute the powerful effect that the music of great composers and musicians has on the human psyche.
But music isn't separate and outside us, it is a part of our anatomy and embedded in our souls courtesy of our ancestors. Whistling, humming and tapping our fingers and feet is instinctual across cultures and time. Whether we sing in celebration or to lull a child to sleep, we connect to a human phenomenon as strange but as normal and vital as breathing or eating. As babies our own voices begin as harmonic cooing and rhymatic responses to our caregivers.
A growing alternative health profession, Music Therapy, strives to heal the patient physically, cognitively, emotionally and socially. The healing powers of this therapy are proven in the treatment of substance abuse, brain injuries, sleep disorders, chronic pain, developmental disabilities, Alzheimer's, psychosis and other mental health disorders. Medical proof that our very spirit needs music.
All Music Healing is Not Healing
With all its many benefits, it is essential that music be part of your health regimen. But before you fire up your IPod know that not all music is created equal. Studies indicate that listening to music referencing elicit sex, violence and illegal drug use often prompts its listeners to engage in the suggestive behavior. It is normal to slip into a light hypnotic state listening to music and to become receptive to the message of the artist. Likewise, music that you personally find unpleasant, such as elevator music or bagpipes, can frazzle your nerves and deplete your energy. With something so powerful, care should be taken.
The music we feed our brain is as important as the food we feed our body.
What Wave is Your Brain On
The human brain responds to stimuli by emitting electronic impulses. Understanding the levels of brain waves can help you gain the benefits of healing music. When you are calm and relaxed but alert, you brain is emitting alpha waves. Beta is our alert, roused state and is necessary for critical and logical thinking as well as survival. It is also the state we are in when stressed and are having trouble concentrating. Theta waves are apparent during the early stages of sleep and drowsiness while Delta waves are found in our deepest state of sleep where physical and mental rejuvenation takes place.
When you must focus and perform at your mental best, you want to stoke the alpha waves. Music that enlivens in an upbeat but calming matter is ideal. Try energizing classical, salsa, reggae and Top 40 as long as the latter has a positive message and non-agitating rhythm.
Beta brain waves are highly desirable when you are running from danger or making important adult decisions but always living in a beta state is extremely unhealthy. As we learn and grow beta waves increase and allow us to be more mature and stressed! However because of the level of arousal it creates and the fight/flight response it enables, it can exhaust and weaken us if not kept in balance. Since beta stimuli are so prevalent in Western society, a healthy daily dose of beta calming music is recommended. Try soft classical, easy listening, religious, scared, new age and other music for mediation and relaxation. Although you may think a dose of your favorite heavy metal music will get you out of a bad mood, it will in fact, only feed the beta waves and ultimately leave you feeling worse.
Likewise it is never recommended to listen to loud or enlivening music before you go to sleep. It is counterproductive to entering the Delta and Theta states. Sleep is not just a restful process, it is the time when your cells are repaired, your cognitive abilities are restored, your body is detoxified from the day's mental, chemical and hormonal stressors and when the growth/youth hormone (HGH) is released. Listen to hypnotic or deep meditative music including Sufi and African trance and smoothing nature sounds to get the full benefits of these rejuvenating waves.
Make music a daily practice for your physical, mental and spiritual health.
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