Sound can entrain our brain waves, taking them to alpha, beta, theta and delta ranges. At certain brainwaves, our bodies produce healthy chemicals and repair our bodies. At other brain waves, one can quit smoking with greater ease. And sound can control the brain waves!
Pieces of the sonic body puzzle are constantly unraveling. In1999 a university professor of the University of Miami, found that patients who listened to music increased activities and levels of melatonin in Alzheimer's patients increased. (Melatonin regulates sleep, increases immune function and creates a calm mood.)
Music is correlated to production of healthy bio-chemicals within our bodies. Music stimulation increases endorphin release, decreasing the need for medication, according to the Austin Medical Center & Harvard University Medical School. Japanese researchers added to this idea. “Music played before anesthesia caused higher production of alpha waves (indicating deeper relaxation), decreases in the stress hormones cortisol. This boosted the immune system, reducing recovery time.”
In unsuspecting places, the impact of music can influential. According to the research of Thomas Verny, “Music of Mozart and Vivaldi causes fetus' heart rates to stabilize, whereas rock music drove fetuses to distraction and violent kicking.”
Jeffrey Thompson, Director of the Center for Neuroacoustic Research, adds, "Since the human body is over seventy percent water and sound travels five times more efficiently through water than through air, sound stimulation directly into the body is highly efficient, especially at the cellular level. This has shown marked cellular metabolism and therefore a possible mobilization of a cellular healing response."
Breast cancer victim, Deforia Lane, PhD. (Director of University Hospitals Health System in Cleveland) found that music therapy increased her levels of S-Ig A (salivary immunoglobin), an immune booster.
Researcher Michael Thaut, Ph.D., who heads the Center for Biomedical research at Colorado State University, uses musical to hasten recovery for stroke victims. He said, “The brain's motor system has a strong capacity to use rhythm as a time keeper to guide and organize physical functions. Those who listen to 30 minutes of music during rehab improved their ability to walk faster and steadier.” The rhythms of music entrain the rhythms of the body, such as heart, breathing and circulation patterns! Certain rhythms maintain health.
A multidisciplinary MIT research team, including engineers, biomedical experts, mathematicians and musical composers, undertook a project to formulate synthetic silk – just like a real spider’s silk. The MIT team analyzed their results by using a surprising analytical tool, music!
Greatly simplifying the details... the various levels of the silk's biochemical formulation (the proteins, their relationships and underlying structures) were translated into musical compositions. The highly diverse produced two silks, one with strong threads that would not bind properly and one that worked. The strong silk that would not form usable threads produced harsh and displeasing music. The usable fibers played as soft fluid pleasing music. The fact that the above process resulted in anything even remotely resembling music is remarkable; the fact that pleasing music was produced from “good” silk and harsh music resulted from “bad” silk is near miraculous.
One of the researchers, Markus Buehler of MIT said, “There might be an underlying structural expression in music that tells us more about the proteins that make up our bodies.