I pondered the use of a particular type of music to relieve stress - the sort of music I improvise at the piano - for a very long time, prompted by the habit of our late mother, Wilhelmina.
In the early days of my parents’ marriage, money wasn’t plentiful as most of it went to building the new family home.
However as things eased financially, Dad bought a glorious record player and speakers, and Mousjka (moosh-ka, as I called her) started buying records for the sheer pleasure of it, and also as a form of stress relief.
Given that not only were there six of us born within 8.5 years, but that we also often had foster kids stay for weeks at a time, life could be hectic for Mousjka, to say the least.
The record collection became rather large.
Many afternoons, our mother would put on a record – Tchaikowsky’s First Piano Concerto was a favourite – and lay on the couch with her eyes closed. For about 30 minutes, after which the record needed to be turned over, Mousjka would do… nothing. Heaven.
I don’t remember her ever relaxing on the couch for the second side of the record, but I do remember her sigh as she stood up to recommence the never ending rounds of washing, cleaning and cooking. We all helped of course, but the burden was most definitely on her.
The family piano moved from the living room to our parents’ bedroom one year, and then it became a habit for Mousjka to call one of us in to play for her, particularly when she wasn’t feeling well.
Tragically, Mum was diagnosed with breast cancer at 34 and died at 41. There were weeks and months when she was relatively well, and then the next round of operations, radiation and chemotherapy would commence. Torture.
But music definitely offered comfort at key times, especially when she was so unwell that even holding a book was impossible.
As you would imagine, the image of Mousjka with her eyes closed, listening to music, is indelibly imprinted, even now, 40 years later.
So there it is, the personal aspect, the poetry behind creating Stress Less Music.
The science behind Stress Less Music encompasses my own personal research, and references a great deal of research conducted by some of the world’s most esteemed scientists and institutions, some of which will be quoted here.
(Just to be perfectly clear, none of the professionals or organisations mentioned in this blog are in any way affiliated with Stress Less Music. There is no endorsement of the Stress Less Music program implied.
Additionally, the Stress Less Music program does not offer medical advice, or suggest any reduction or changes to medications prescribed by your doctor. Please seek professional medical assistance as required. )
So first off, the HeartMath Institute, whose magnificent work over the past three decades is incomparable.
As early as 1996, Rollin McCraty et al wrote about the entrainment of the heart and mind using the breath, which inspired Stress Less Music’s entrainment of the breath together with especially composed music.
The abstract below, from “Head-Heart Entrainment: A Preliminary Survey” by R. McCraty, W.A. Tiller and M. Atkinson, describes HeartMaths’ brilliant concept.
“This preliminary survey deals with experimental observations on the degree of entrainment exhibited between heart rate variability (HRV), respiration and electroencephalograph (EEG) recordings for 5 subjects, trained in the use of a particular inner self-management technique, as they change their mode of heart function through various states of order. As the heart approaches its first major ordered mode of functioning (entrainment), both the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system shift their power into the mid frequency range (~ 0.1 Hz) in the HRV power spectrum which is associated with the baroreceptor feedback loop between the heart and brain. One then sees frequency pulling of the respiratory system towards this mid frequency range, until frequency-locking of the HRV waveform and respiration rate occurs. Thereafter, the signal amplitude in the ~0.1 Hz range of the brainwaves begins to increase significantly. Strong cross-correlation functions are found to exist between these pairs of biological oscillators. However, the brain wave signals from different areas of the brain don’t all frequency-lock with the baroreceptor signal. The auxiliary data indicates that there is much hidden complexity yet to be elucidated. Evoked potential data reinforces some of the major findings.” https://www.heartmath.org/research/research-library/
In essence, HeartMath have pioneered ways in which to create, monitor and measure the beneficial impact of conscious use of the breath to create/mind heart “coherence”, and to create optimal Heart Rate Variability. More on this shortly.
The breath
The breath itself is interesting.
Most of us breathe in and out all day long without giving the breath a thought. But as oncologist Mitchell L. Gaynor M.D. states in his seminal book “The Healing Power of Sound – Recovery from Life-Threatening Illness Using Sound, Voice and Music” (Shambhala Publications, Inc 1999):
“Breathing is much more than a mechanical reflex for oxygen exchange; it is the basis for all of our cellular functions, our energetic well-being, even our emotional health…
[When] shallow breathing, the diaphragm, the sheaf of muscle separating the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity, doesn’t move downward sufficiently, so that the lungs never fully expand into the abdomen. As a result, the lower portions of the lungs… hardly receive any oxygen. In an effort to compensate for this inadequate oxygen intake, our heart rate and blood pressure increase, as our cardiovascular systems work overtime.” [Emphasis added.] Shambhala Publications, Inc, 1999
This last point is so important.
Imagine if a doctor’s prescription for high blood pressure included ‘please breathe deeply and consciously for at least 10 minutes a day’! It’s such a simple thing to do, to take a few deep breaths, but the beneficial effect is immediately evident.
Later in the same book, Dr. Gaynor goes on to say that:
“Shallow breathing is also evidence that the body is in a perpetual state of “fight-or-flight” – the stress response to external danger or anxiety-provoking events.”
Shallow breathing tells the body that it is in danger. Deep breathing says “All is well.” Deep breathing is a habit worth cultivating.
The music
Research on the efficacy of music as a therapeutic tool is prolific.
In J.M. White’s ‘Music therapy: an intervention to reduce anxiety in the myocardial infarction patient’, White states that:
“A purposive sample of 40 myocardial infarction patients was randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. Statistically significant reduction in heart rate, respiratory rate, and state anxiety scores were found in the group that listened to relaxing music. A statistically significant positive correlation was found between trait anxiety scores and baseline state anxiety scores.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1617576/
JF Byers and KA Smith, in the article “Effect of a music intervention on noise annoyance, heart rate, and blood pressure in cardiac surgery patients”, noted that post-operatively,
“Heart rate and systolic blood pressure decreased during the music intervention compared with baseline.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9131197/
Study after study has shown that music, a particular type of music, can be beneficial to one’s health.
Brilliantly, music can be used in conjunction with any number of other therapies, and will never interfere with any medications or protocols prescribed by your doctor.
In summary
To bring the concepts discussed here together, let’s talk further about Heart Rate Variability
(HRV), an important component of HeartMath’s offerings.
Harvard Health Publishing (Harvard Medical School), has this to say about HRV:
“Based on data gathered from many people, if the system is in more of a fight-or-flight mode, the variation between subsequent heartbeats tends to be lower. If the system is in more relaxed state, the variation between beats may be higher.” https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/heart-rate-variability-new-way-track-well-2017112212789
Measuring HRV is another tool in assessing our overall health, and will be the focus of a later blog.
Taking the research presented here as the basis for creating Stress Less Music, we have gone one step further and created an active, rather than a passive approach to the use of music.
The newly-minted musician learns to play a few simple combinations of notes at the keyboard, entrain the breath with the pulse of the music, and immediately begin to feel less
stress.
It’s simple, yet effective.
Learning to play an instrument is a welcome bonus, with the overall aim to achieve a heightened sense of wellbeing made easily accessible. Access to the introductory ’10 Steps to Stress Less Music is free via the website (www.stresslessmusic.com) and is available to you now.
Stress Less Music: it’s only a breath away.*
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