Music can lift your mood, get you moving, and improve your health. When you compare the calming sound of trickling water to the unrelenting noise of a jackhammer at work, you get to realize some sounds simply make us feel better than others.
When you consider any kind of music, you need to know that it’s just organized sound on a fundamental level. Whether your conscious mind is paying attention or not, your body takes cues from sounds and rhythms to either get energized or slow down accordingly. Sound therapists believe that your body contains energy frequencies in varying degrees. As you listen to music, sound therapy deconstructs it into pure sound, thereby having a significant effect on your emotions.
The frequencies of sounds that you listen to every day can be used to re-attune your body’s energy frequencies whenever there’s an imbalance. Sound therapy is considered to be an integral part of health and wellness rituals. It has also been used as a form of therapy for neurological disorders. In fact, it’s fascinating how the brain functions and interacts with music and heals itself in time.
How Sound Therapy Helps You Heal
A sound therapy treatment is both passive and participatory in nature. When you listen to any appealing sound, you tend to relax by laying back and slowing your breath. You begin to have a passive experience in this way as you prepare yourself to receive more sounds. The participation aspect comes in when you’re in this place of stillness. To put things into perspective, you become more open and aware of each sound that comes in. Here are a few healing effects that sound therapy is known to have on our body.
1. Provides Relief from Stress
Stress is an inevitable part of our modern lifestyle. Studies have proved that stress is a body response to any demand.1 Sound therapy induces positive emotions and relaxation. Studies have concluded that sound therapy was successful in reducing feelings of stress as well as aiding in the relief of numerous diseases.
The exact mechanism responsible for this relaxation is still unknown. However, it was found that nitric oxide (NO) was the key molecule responsible for these relaxing effects.2
2. Helps Cope With Anxiety
Sound therapy helps you cope with symptoms of anxiety, agitation, and the ill-effects of sedative drugs. This nature-based therapy was tested on coronary artery bypass graft patients. It was found that, when used as a non-pharmacological intervention, sound therapy reduced anxiety and agitation significantly in these patients, when compared to the control group.3
3. Works As A Natural Healer
Vibroacoustic technology, a part of sound therapy, uses audible sound vibrations. An external vibration like a sound can have an internal influence on our body. These musical vibrations are in tune with our human vibrations. Studies found that these vibrations could have a profound healing effect on our body. It also facilitates communication and balance between our mind and body. However, this may not work for all.4
4. Relieves Pain
A study proved that low-frequency sound waves may be effective in the treatment of fibromyalgia. This study was conducted without any control group. The focus was mainly on the effect of low-frequency sound waves on the muscles and joints.5
5. Provides A Cure For Tinnitus
Tinnitus is also known as the perception of sound or noise. Patients suffering from tinnitus usually hear clicking, buzzing, or ringing in one or both ears. Various management strategies have been tried to alleviate the symptoms of tinnitus. Sound therapy is one of them. In this treatment, an external sound wave is used as a management tool.
6. Promotes Holistic Healing
According to a study published in the American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, humming is not only a mood booster but also the easiest way to declutter the mind. It is also known to maintain the health of the sinuses by keeping them clear and healthy.6
While not yet a part of mainstream healing like yoga and meditation, sound therapy presents the next frontier in healing. It doesn’t need expensive and fancy tuning forks or Tibetan singing bowls to make the most of it. Something as simple as a mellow song, humming a short tune, or even taking a walk amidst the sounds of nature does the mind and body a whole lot of good.
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