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Sound Therapy Music to Your Ears, Health to Your Body Close your eyes for a minute and listen to the world around you. What do you hear? Car horns, jackhammers and blaring stereos? Or gentle raindrops, laughing children and the soothing strings of a symphony orchestra? It may make a difference. Sound therapists say that what you hear can help your health. especially music, can be a great healer,” says Therapists are using sound, especially music, to help people with a wide variety of medical problems, from Alzheimer’s disease to tooth pain. Medical doctors know about the power of sound, too. They use high-tech devices such as ultrasound machines to help heal soft-tissue injuries and to take diagnostic photographs of fetuses in their mothers’ wombs. And researchers have released a number of studies that verify music’s ability to ease pain, improve memory and reduce stress. So how can you take advantage of sound therapy? Well, chances are that you’re already using it. Three in four people who responded to a Prevention magazine health survey said they listen to music to ease tension and stress. And of those, 82 percent reported that it brings significant relief. Experts say people can harness the healing power of sound in many ways. You can listen to music that quiets your mind and relaxes your body. Or walk through a forest and soak up the sounds of nature. Stroll along the beach and listen to the waves lapping the shore. Sing to yourself, play an instrument or learn toning, where you make a series of elongated vowel sounds to ease tension and energize your body. (For more information on how to do toning, see “Hum Yourself to Health.” |
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A History of Harmony Mankind has long recognized the power of sound. About 2,500 years ago, the Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras developed “prescriptions” of music for his students. He told them which sounds would help them work, relax, sleep and wake up better. The Bible tells of David, the famed harp player whose music eased the madness of King Saul. Charles Darwin believed that prehistoric humans originally used musical sounds as mating calls. All sound, whether it comes from a shiny brass trumpet or a rusty car muffler, travels in waves of energy. These waves have a number of variables that give a sound its unique quality. Among others, there are velocity, or the speed at which the waves travel; frequency, which is the number of waves per second that an object produces; and intensity, which is a measure of a sound’s loudness. Our body’s main sound sensor is the ear. The skin, bones, fluid and nerves in the ear help collect sound waves and send impulses to the brain. The brain reacts to these impulses and sends out directions that help control heart rate, breathing rate and other bodily functions. By listening to various pieces of music, fast and slow, and then taking your own pulse. Sounds can also affect your breathing, blood pressure and muscle tension and perhaps cause the release of painkilling, mood-changing chemicals called endorphins. All of these factors may combine to create a state of total relaxation, he says, reducing stress and giving the body a chance to heal itself. One theory holds that vibrations from sound waves can also have a direct impact on individual body parts. Science has long known that every atom vibrates, emitting sound waves even though they’re far too faint for us to hear. Since body parts are made up of atoms, they all produce sound waves. Some therapists believe that these sound waves are altered when disease or stress hits—and they also believe that directing sound waves at the body or its parts can restore natural rhythms and encourage and support healing. This technique, called cymatic therapy, is used in the United States by holistic practitioners, including acupuncturists, osteopaths and others. Finally, there’s the theory that sound waves can balance energy centers, or chakras, in the body and promote health. Eastern philosophy holds that the body has seven chakras, which control function and energy flow in different organs of the body. The Science of Sound Though researchers are still fuzzy on how sound therapy works, there’s plenty of scientific proof that it can be effective for everything from reducing stress to boosting your brainpower. Many studies, for example, have shown that music can reduce pain and ease anxiety during surgical procedures. German researchers found that patients having gastroscopies, during which a doctor runs a snakelike scope down the patient’s throat to look at the stomach, had lower levels of stress hormones in their bloodstreams when they listened to the music of their choice during the procedures.
Sound therapy could also help people improve the quality of their workouts. Listening to hard-driving rock music had the opposite effect; heart rates increased and workouts were shorter when the subjects tuned in to rock ’n’ roll.
Sound Advice A trained sound therapist uses a wide range of tools, including musical instruments, tapes, tuning forks, machines that release sound waves at specific frequencies and even his own voice, to help heal the body. Many hospitals, nursing homes and rehabilitation centers offer group therapy sessions as part of their treatment programs. Many composers now write music specifically for therapeutic use. Much of it falls into a category called New Age. This music has a carefully timed beat and a sequence of tones that is supposed to stimulate relaxation. Music stores usually carry a selection of New Age recordings, some of which are tailored for relaxation, improved concentration, weight loss and other purposes. |
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