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Tune Your Life with Music

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Open Heart Surgery and Soothing Music: the oxytocin connection

February 17th, 2010 · Music and Oxytocin, music and the heart

Are you having open heart surgery?  My mother had a quintuple by-pass over 15 years ago and even then, I told her about the importance of listening to soft, steady, soothing music during the surgery, to calm the body and the mind, and to facilitate healing and a faster recovery.  The doctors did not know much about the process but were happy to give the “go-ahead” to her.

When she began to wake up in the recovery room, one of the very first things she said was “Oh Alice!  The music was beautiful!  I enjoyed it so much and will never have surgery again without it!”

Now, yet another study has emerged that confirms what we knew in 1996!

J Clin Nurs. 2009 Aug;18(15):2153-61.

Soothing music can increase oxytocin levels during bed rest after open-heart surgery: a randomised control trial.

Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Centre for Health Care Sciences, Orebro University Hospital and School of Health, Orebro University, P.O. Box 1324, Orebro SE 70113, Sweden. ulrica.nilsson@orebroll.se

AIM: To evaluate the effect of bed rest with music on relaxation for patients who have undergone heart surgery on postoperative day one.

BACKGROUND: Music intervention has been evaluated as an appropriate nursing intervention to reduce patients ‘pain, stress and anxiety levels in several clinical settings, but its effectiveness in increasing patients’ subjective and objective relaxation levels has not been examined.

DESIGN: A randomised controlled trial.

METHOD: Forty patients undergoing open coronary artery bypass grafting and/or aortic valve replacement surgery were randomly allocated to either music listening during bed rest (n = 20) or bed rest only (n = 20). Relaxation was assessed during bed rest the day after surgery by determining the plasma oxytocin, heart rate, mean arterial blood pressure, PaO2 SaO2 and subjective relaxation levels.

RESULTS: In the music group, levels of oxytocin increased significantly in contrast to the control group for which the trend over time was negative i.e., decreasing values. Subjective relaxation levels increased significantly more and there were also a significant higher levels of PaO2 in the music group compared to the control group. There was no difference in mean arterial blood pressure, heart rate and SaO2 between the groups.

CONCLUSION: Listening to music during bed rest after open-heart surgery has some effects on the relaxation system as regards s-oxytocin and subjective relaxations levels. This effect seems to have a causal relation from the psychological (music makes patients relaxed) to the physical (oxytocin release).

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Music intervention should be offered as an integral part of the multimodal regime administered to the patients that have undergone cardiovascular surgery. It is a supportive source that increases relaxation.

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Pulsing to the Rhythm of Health

February 15th, 2010 · Music Healing

by Buffy Owens

I like this concept of pulsing to the rhythm of health.  We are rhythmical beings living in a world pulsating with life. Our lives pulse with the rhythm of our inner landscapes – from the pounding of our heartbeat and the tempo of our stride, to cycles of our sleep patterns and the cadence of our brain processes. We are also surrounded by the sweet music of life. Just notice the cycle of seasons, ocean waves, the pitter-pat of rain and even the sound of a passing car.

If you have ever been a part of a drum circle or enjoyed the sound of the symphony, then you know how music can move you emotionally, spiritually and physically. Joining in the music making can actually give you a direct link to changing the tempo of your attitude or exploring the sensations of your body.

Drumming for health today has merged the primal beauty of ancient healing arts, practiced for tens of thousands of years in all cultures across the globe, with modern science.

“We know from the research that active drumming effects humans on the cellular biological level,” explains
Kat Fulton, MM, a board certified Music Therapist who with specialization in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and rhythm-based wellness. “Group drumming studies have shown a 62% increase in individual mood state. The same studies also showed a significant decrease in stress hormone and an increase in white blood cells. There have been other studies that show an increase in hormones that corresponds to our immune system from a single session of music therapy.”

So where do you begin? You can seek out a Music Therapist like Kat Fulton or you can follower her simple guidelines for beginning where you are:

Before playing: Please remember that there is no judgment in drumming for health. This is all about the process, not at all about the product. There are no mistakes; there are only opportunities to be YOU!

Prepare: If you have a small frame drum at home, hold it in your lap either face down or on its side. If you don’t have a drum at home, feel free to engage in gentle body percussion instead. You can make up your own movement and rhythm in the process! Use your hands to gently pat different areas of your body, make sounds by stomping your feet, or use your voice and mouth for rhythm.

Center Yourself: Find a comfortable spot to sit or stand, and take a few deep breaths. Become aware of your feelings, thoughts, surroundings, and let them go.

Be Present and Drum: When you are ready, play. Play anything. Bring your awareness to the rhythm while letting go of any self-judgment or criticism. Instead of imagining the rhythms coming from you, imagine the rhythms coming through you.

Savor: After your drumming excursion, take a few moments of silence to allow the rhythms to permeate through your body, mind, and spirit. Take this feeling with you through the day, and remember that which you already know!
—
Kat Fulton, MM, MT-BC
soundhealthmusic.com
858-205-8660         858-205-8660 phone
858-433-2960 fax

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Music and the Heart: New research!

February 11th, 2010 · music and the heart

  A new research article has been published on WedMD that documents many of the things that so many of us believe to be true anyway:  when people listen to the music that they love, it has distinct and measurable health benefits!  To read this article, go to http://www.webmd.com/heart/news/20081113/joyful-music-helps-the-heart
Music that Inspires Joy Improves Blood Vessel Function
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News

The study comes from Michael Miller, MD, director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland. Funding for the study came from the American Heart Association, the Veterans Administration, and the National Institutes of health.

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One person’s experience with dental anesthesia and music

February 9th, 2010 · Music and Dental Surgery

Let’s face it:  no one likes to go to the dentist!  Our headphones (www.surgicalheadphones.com) are making a big hit in the field of dentistry and here’s a man who decided to use music in his own way with a dental implant procedure.  Enjoy!

“I had to get up early–0500h–in order to travel to the Big City and get a tooth implant. For those of you who don’t know, a tooth implant is a titanium screw that is placed in the jawbone as an anchor for a permanent tooth approx four months after the implant is embedded. It is the best solution for those looking to replace a missing tooth, the other options being a bridge or no treatment. Bridges are usually fine and have been used for decades, are usually lower cost, but the downside is that you have to ruin two perfectly good teeth in order to install a bridge.

So I didn’t go with the bridge, because I am a relatively young guy and I don’t want to give up two more teeth–bridges can result in root canals in a long-term run–and my doctor recommended the implant. He’s a nice guy, great with oral surgery. Did my wisdom teeth (third molars). The only problem I had with the implant was that I needed some bone grafting done in order to anchor the implant firmly. These days they grow bone tissue in test tubes, so I didn’t not have to give up any of my bone for the procedure.

I was a bit scared at first, because I remember when I had my wisdom teeth removed. I had all four teeth growing in, two of them impacted, so I had to have two of them pulled and two of them cut out. It wasn’t pretty. I remember waking up after the surgery int he recovery room thinking I was at some kind of party or social event at which I had imbibed too much alcohol. The feeling after being aroused from the anesthesia is remarkably like being intoxicated. The nurses had a hard time getting me to lay back down. I then spent the next two weeks recovering from my procedure, spending lots of time with my mouth open over the toilet as blood and ooze drained from my cavities, suffering pain unimaginable when my codeine ran out or I had to eat–I remember lots of chocolate malts. What a way to spend spring break.

So this time I was a bit unnerved about the whole ordeal. Getting my mouth opened up and having some bone and titanium implanted into my jaw didn’t sound like a lot of fun. So I get to the Big City and get into the office and they talk me through the thing and let me choose my anesthesia and I’m looking around at all the tools and stuff laying around the small operating area and I want to ask lots of questions–not out of worry, but curiosity. I don’t ask those questions, though, because I’d rather these nurses concentrate on making everything go smoothly as possible. I wake up about two and a half hours later in the recovery room, this time completely ready for the wave of intoxication to wash over me. There is is. I lay back down, knowing that I got little enough sleep the night before and that I’ve got time here, and now, to get more rest without feeling guilty. I just had a major operation done. So I lay back down, listen to the girl crying next to me–her first time, I assume–and just let the anesthesia work its magic.

My mom drives me home after that; I’m not allowed with all the drugs in my system. I brought my mp3 player and listened to soothing music to facilitate more rest, in case the pain kicked in early. Last time we didn’t have any drugs and I was in howling torture by the time we got home. Not this time. They gave me some really great pain killing stuff at the hospital. Injected it directly into my mouth.

And I sleep most of the rest of the day, nearly completely pain free. Yesterday I went out to a client’s house and hooked up her computer and configured the printer with no problems. I slept early last night and woke up in some pain, but I took ibuprofen for comfort, no Darvocet. ”  Whenever you can manage dental pain with a little ibuprofen and no narcotics, THAT’S a successful music-amplified anesthesia!  (http://ordinarilyuninteresting.blogspot.com/2010/02/its-business-time.html)

Get you headphones here:  www.surgicalheadphones.com.

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How Does Sound Healing Work?

February 6th, 2010 · Music Healing, Music in the Hospital

Sound Healing has become more popular over the last couple of decades, simply because more and more research has proven that we are greatly affected mentally, emotionally, and physically by sounds or combinations of sounds. Sounds can essentially bring us up or bring us down, from a mental and emotional standpoint, and this works the same way on the physical level as well.

How Sound Healing Works
Because all sounds have a frequency, and every cell in our bodies also has a frequency, these frequencies can work together to heal our minds and our bodies. For example, in modern medicine, sound is commonly used. Sound waves, or sound frequencies, can be used to destroy gallstones or kidney stones in many cases.

Sound is also often used for the reduction of pain, although we don’t realize it. For example, when you have a dental procedure done these days, you will usually have the option of wearing earphones and listening to music. This isn’t to drown out the sound of the dentist’s drill. It’s for the purpose of taking your mind off of the procedure, to reduce the pain that you experience, and to relax your mind as well.

 

If you doubt that this type of therapy actually works, or has an effect on us, try it out yourself. Listen to music that you love for about thirty minutes, and then jot down your feelings in a journal. On another day, listen to music that you hate, and again jot your feelings down. You will most likely notice that your feelings after hearing music that you liked were positive, while they were negative after exposure to music that you did not like.

Various Sounds Used for Sound Healing

While most people think that only music is used for this type of healing, this isn’t true at all. While music is widely used, and highly beneficial, other sounds are also used – such as beating drums, sounds of animals, sounds of water, sounds of wind, sounds of the ocean, and many other sounds.

Typically, the sound chosen for your healing will depend on the type of healing that is needed, and on your personal preferences concerning sounds. For example, some music and sounds can actually distress us, while other types of music and sounds make us quite happy, or extremely relaxed.

The Benefits of Sound Healing

Sound healing can be used for a variety of problems. It can lower the blood pressure, ease or eliminate stress, reduce pain, improve sleep, lift depression, and much more. You can find sound therapy or healing used in doctor’s offices, dentist offices, hospitals, day care centers, schools, nursing homes, prisons, rehabilitation centers, and a variety of other places.

For more info, go to http://www.methodsofhealing.com

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Surgical Headphones Enter the Dental Surgery Field

February 3rd, 2010 · Music and Dental Surgery

This post was originally written over two and a half years ago!  What a long way we have come in that time.   It seems that almost every time I present my concept of using music through headphones for surgery, about a dozen people jump up and say “what about dental surgery?  I hate being in the dentist’s chair more than anything and the drill wants to make me jump up and run as fast as I can away from the place!”

I understand!  I don’t think anyone really likes going to the dentist, but it has to be done; preferably twice a year.  Now people are seriously buying the pre-programmed headphones for their root canals, tooth extractions, crown settings, fillings, wisdom teeth…you name it!  They are currently programmed with soothing and beautiful classical piano music, played on an acoustic Steinway grand piano, but I can put anything on them for you!  I need at least a week’s notice if possible, but we can also do rush orders for a little extra.  Just contact me through www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions!

Tomorrow I’m traveling to Versailles, KY to speak to a group of 25-30 dentists about our Surgical Serenity Headphones and their value in dentistry! Ever since the headphones went on the market last March (www.surgicalheadphones.com) people have been saying “Oh, those would be great in a dentist’s office!”

Yes, the dentist chair is one of the most un-favorite places to find oneself. In dentistry, the headphones would serve multiple purposes. In addition to the relaxation effect that invariably is elicited, there’s also the fact that having on headphones will block and muffle the sound of the drill, one of the most unpleasant parts of the dental procedure.

As with so many procedures, just knowing that you have multiple choices for pain management is a huge plus, and with music, there’s no novocaine numbness to wear off and no gases or narcotics to put into your bloodstream!

The benefits far outweigh the disadvantages, which are………..none!

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Music Can Heal the Brain

January 31st, 2010 · Music and the Brain

Over the years, researchers have studied the various effects of music on human health, intelligence, and well-being.  More recently, researchers came to fascinating conclusions regarding music’s medicinal qualities:  music can heal the brain.   Music’s various positive benefits reach diverse groups of people: adolescents involved with music perform better in school , music increases exercise endurance by up to 15%, music lowers stress levels, anxiety, and depression in pregnant women, and may be an inexpensive and enjoyable way to facilitate recovery in stroke patients -imagine that!

In order to fully comprehend music’s influence on stroke recovery, we must consider the mechanics. A stroke occurs when blood supply to part of the brain is blocked, which prevents the admittance of oxygen and glucose. Without oxygen, brain cells die. This blockage results most commonly from the blockage of a small artery within the brain itself, but there are several other mechanisms for a stroke as well. Some factors that lead to strokes and artery blockage include: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and smoking. Strokes are unexpected and dangerous incidences that remain the third leading cause of death in the United States behind heart disease and cancer. A Harvard Imaging technique reveals increased brain activity when people play or listen to music because more blood and oxygen flow to the brain, healing brain damage.

Researchers find that music aides in the recovery process by improving damage to verbal memory and attention. The brain is more plastic immediately following a stroke episode, and greater plasticity- the brain’s ability to re-wire itself – increases music’s effect. So, the optimal time for music therapy is during the first weeks of stroke recovery for a couple hours per day (University of Helsinki, 2008). Music not only enhances attention and triggers verbal memory but also improves mood, heightening a pleasurable response.
Särkämö, a PhD student at the Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology, at the University of Helsinki and at the Helsinki Brain Research Centre (in Finland), conducted an experiment with stroke recovery patients to test this hypothesis. Prior to treatment, patients exhibited problems with movement, cognitive processes, attention, and memory as a result of their strokes. He randomly assigned them to three different groups: a music listening group, a language group, or a control group. For six months, the music group religiously listened to a musical genre of their choice, while the language group listened to audio books. The control group did not listen to any auditory material during this time. All other conditions remained the same for the three groups. The results showed that music listeners had an improvement of 60 percent, compared to the first week after the stroke. That was more than twice the improvement in the non-listeners, and three times the improvement in the audio book listeners. Furthermore, focused attention improved by 17 percent for music listeners but not at all for the other groups (University of Helsinki, 2008). Additional improvements were noted in the music listener’s mood. This experiment applauds music’s extraordinary ability to rehabilitate the brain. More universally, this illustrates a stimulus that emotionally connects the listener with his or her environment. Music that grabs the patient’s attention and moves him or her can repair and renew previously damaged neural networks.

Music therapy can be applied in different ways depending on severity and type of brain damage. Damage to Broca’s area (left frontal lobe) inhibits speech, but a healthy right hemisphere can still process melody and rhythm. “Melodic Intonation Therapy,” cured a patient who suffered from “aphasia”-loss of the ability to produce and/or comprehend language. The patient created sentences in rhythm to melodies to facilitate coherent speech. Before, he could not string simple sentences or phrases together. Eventually, the patient detached the melody from the lyrics to form normal speaking sentences.

The basic requirement for music therapy hinges on a stimulus that sparks a connection with the listener. The listener chose the music genre most pleasurable to himself/herself. Whether it is raga, classical, pop, jazz, or rock, music stimulates a pleasurable emotional response that aids the brain in recovery from damage like a stroke.

This article was originally pusblished on that this article was originally posted on the site Psychology in the News  and  the author is  Jennifer Beckerman.

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Understanding Brain Waves: Tune Your Brain

January 30th, 2010 · Music and the Brain, Music and the Mind-Body, Music Healing

They say that the brain is the last unexplored frontier, but over the last decade or two, much research has been conducted that documents how sound and vibration impact the brain in a very positive way.

The following was found on today’s “The Daily Turn-on.” Enjoy!

Did you know you can actually charge up your central nervous system through music? Alfred Tomatis, French physician and specialist in otolaryngology (ear, nose, throat specialist) has been studying the functions of the human ear for over forty-five years. Tomatis discovered that with a frequency as high as 8000 hz, such as Gregorian chants, humans are able to “charge” the central nervous system and the cortex of the brain. Through years of research he has found that sound is not actually produced through the mouth but rather through the vibratory frequency that travels through the bones of the body. Every bone, tissue and fiber of our bodies operates through its own unique resonant frequency which combined make up each individual person’s unique vibratory signature, or aura. Disease occurs when an individual’s own natural vibratory state is out of resonance or is in disharmony. Fortunately, just as the body can get out of harmony, it is possible to put it back in harmony with its natural resonance through sound therapy. Sound therapy involves externally creating sound and projecting it into the diseased area to reintroduce the correct harmonic pattern. So where does this whole chanting thing come into play? We can actually change our body’s natural rhythmic vibrations through a process called entrainment which introducws a more powerful rhythmic vibration to a weaker vibration until the more powerful vibration changes the less powerful vibration and their rhythms become synchronized together. And this can be accomplished through chanting. A a matter of fact, our brain waves, heart beat and respiratory patterns can all be shifted through the practice of entrainment. Sound therapy is a healing modality that uses sound to shift our vibratory frequency to bring the body back to a place of harmony. The key to accomplishing this is understanding the basic categories of brain waves:
Beta Waves vibrate at a frequency of 14 to 20 Hz and are the frequency of our normal waking state of mind.
Alpha Waves vibrate at a frequency of 8 to 13 Hz and are typically the frequency of our daydreaming or meditative state of mind.
Theta Waves vibrate at a frequency of 4 to 7 Hz are the frequency of a deep sleeping state, as well as the frequency found in shamanic activity.
Delta Waves vibrate at a frequency of .5 to3 Hz and are the frequency thats occurs in deep sleep, as well as profound levels of meditation and healing. By utilizing our sense of sound, we are literally able to shift our consciousness and create healing in our body. But, be aware that the opposite is true. We can also utilize our sense of sound to negatively shift our consciousness and create disease.

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