For all of us, at one point or another, sound helps to put us in a different state of mind. For some of us, classical tunes calm nerves, helps a study session go smoother, or entrances us into a good night’s sleep. For others, classic rock makes us want to dance, country music might bring out the romantic, and just the sound of silence can bring a little relief now and then. Many people are comforted by music and studies show that different instruments that produce sound are considered to be a type of natural health.
A 2008 study from the University of Maryland School of Medicine revealed that listening to music that makes you happy for 30 minutes can help to reduce your stress level. Hearing joyful sounds during the day can tell the brain to release endorphins which make you feel happy, your muscles can relax and eventually your stress lowers and pain can be relieved. A different study from 2008 also showed us that listening to calming music like Mozart or crashing waves at the ocean can lower your blood pressure because soothing music slows down your breathing as well as your heartbeat. Your brain waves also tend to react to the sounds you are hearing by slowing down or speeding up according to the beats.
Besides just tuning your radio or switching on your cd player or ipod, sound therapy can help in other ways. Ancient tools such as tuning forks and singing bowls are often used to calm an “overexcited” nervous system. According to Jonathan Goldman, who wrote the book The Seven Secrets of Sound Healing, tuning forks are able to create sound vibrations to provide healing properties. Tuning forks are able to effortlessly realign your inner chakras, clean them of any static energy, and replace harmony and balance in your life. Tuning forks are used by being tapped lightly and hum lowly in order to spread the healing vibrations into the space around you.
Another type of meditative sound therapy is the ancient tradition of singing bowls. Also known commonly as “Himalayan bowls,” these metal (often made from bronze) bowls also vibrate in order to produce a healing sound. Singing bowls are called bowls because they look like inverted bells, sitting flat on their tops without a handle; these “bowls” can also be large or small and are “rung” by being rubbed on the sides and the top of the rim to produce the sound or by being pounded lightly. To play a singing bowl, the friction of rubbing a wooden, leather, or plastic mallet to increase the overtones. Used for relaxation purposes as well as part of religious practices, singing bowls offer support to many.
Research has also been done regarding the link of sound and insomnia. You might think that trying to listen to a playlist while in bed might be counteractive to actually falling asleep but the opposite is true when dealing with the inability to sleep or with waking up often during the night. Listening to white noise, the rainforest, or even the sound of falling rain can ease you back to sleep or urge a restful night without tossing and turning.
Instead of just being an outlet to make you happy, calm your nerves, de-stress, relax your muscles, or help you sleep, sound can also be a way to boost your brain function. Studies say that learning a musical instrument and practicing each day makes your brain moldable and able to store more information as well as keeping it young and sharp. So if you are anything like me when I was a kid, and do not enjoy practicing the piano for an hour each day, just remember that if you stick with it your brain will most likely age better than your peers, and the repetitive motion of playing the instrument—as well as the music it produces—will also help you be more relaxed. Even though I yawn as I type this, I better go find my lullaby CD to lull me into a reassuring sleep.
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