The Effect Of Music On The Human Stress Response

The first Transcendental Meditation research studies were conducted at UCLA and Harvard University and published in Science and the American Journal of Physiology in 1970 and 1971. However, much research has been of poor quality, including a high risk for bias due to the connection of researchers to the TM organization and the selection of subjects with a favorable opinion of TM. Independent systematic reviews have not found health benefits for TM exceeding those of relaxation and health education. For the study, 81 participants aged 55 and older who had subjective memory complaints and met criteria for mild cognitive impairment, indicated by a total score of 0.5 on the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale. In addition, the yoga cohort showed significant improvement in depressive symptoms, apathy, and resilience from emotional stress. In another study, Kundalini Yoga did not show significant effectiveness in treating obsessive-compulsive disorders compared with Relaxation/Meditation.

Preliminary research also suggests that meditation may help protect the brain against aging. Research published in the journal NeuroImage by a team from UCLA suggested that people who meditate have less age-related atrophy in the brain’s white matter. The researchers found that in experienced meditators, the DMN was relatively deactivated while the participants were practicing various forms of meditation, which translates to fewer distracted thoughts than the novice meditators. Impact of vipassana meditation on life satisfaction and quality of life .



Classical music is often used in the studies I’ve cited here and is a popular choice for bedtime listening. If you’re listening to a Bach sonata in a room blazing with lights, or with your face in a computer screen, you not likely to get the sleep-inducing effects of the music in the background. Make sure the rest of your nightly routine and environment is soothing, calm, and dimly lit. I encourage my fall asleep music patients to flip on some relaxing music for the last 30 or 45 minutes of their Power Down Hour. Like mood, pain and sleep have a complex, dynamic relationship that works in both directions. Pain interferes with sleep, and sleeping poorly increases our sensitivity to pain.

Heartfulness is a set of meditative practices aided by yogic transmission. Key elements include incorporating techniques for relaxation, meditation, rejuvenation along with a prayer-meditation before sleep. The LPP ERP component indexes arousal and is larger in amplitude for emotionally salient stimuli relative to neutral.

From the perspective of biopsychological stress research, a major shortcoming is the vast neglect of the control of confounding variables [25–27]. Although acute stress responses occur rather uniformly across individuals , they may be modified by previous individual experiences, such as chronic stress . Finally, the broad majority of previous work has used only one control group , and has not examined whether positive effects of music are due the nature of music itself or due to a calming (non-music) acoustic stimulation. Consequently, the particular effectiveness of music listening on stress cannot yet be determined. The study of the musician’s brain along with the results of this study show promising potential for the future of a mixture of neuroscience and music therapy. It is particularly exciting to observe how just one difference in educational experience can so drastically change brain structure and ability.

But at AIRE Ancient Baths, we aim to offer relaxation on all levels for guests. That’s why we’ve partnered with the Dub Sutra Group, who have created relaxing and ambient songs to play in all AIRE centers. The worldly, classical-inspired music is played throughout AIRE centers to complete the ambiance, but also to provide further relaxation. New research shows that even sad music can lift your mood, while other studies suggest music can boost happiness and reduce anxiety. For instance, a Montreal study of 15 “mildly anxious” volunteers found a significant reduction in their anxiety when they listened to binaural beats at least 5 times each week for a month.

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