Cats purr when they feel comfortable – we learn that as children. A dream when they are very close to us and we can get a little bit of their happiness. There is something meditative about stroking them, hearing their purrs and feeling the vibrations through their fur.
US researchers at the Fauna Communications Research Institute in North Carolina have now discovered that the animals also produce these sounds when they are ill or under stress. Because the fine vibrations that the purring triggers at a frequency of 22 to 30 Hertz seem to help them heal injuries and broken bones more quickly. Is that why cats are said to have seven lives?
We humans feel the connection to tones, sounds and rhythm when music touches our innermost being. Many lose their composure as soon as the wedding march starts in the church. If our favorite song unexpectedly plays on the radio, we want to sing and dance along and are in a good mood right away. Or think of films: the same scene in the forest, accompanied by romantic music, can invite you to dream or, if other sounds sound, let a shiver of horror run down your spine.
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Practice early
How much music accompanies and influences our lives from the beginning, explains Prof. Dr. Gunther Kreutz. He teaches systematic musicology at the University of Oldenburg: “Babies move to music and thus learn to coordinate their motor skills better. Small children pave the way to language acquisition by singing and babbling. And in kindergarten they learn to recognize recurring events with songs, to structure everyday life and to consolidate their memory for these structures.”
The ability to recognize a musical experience from sound waves, voices and instruments is formed in the womb. The sense of hearing is the first of our senses to develop. For an experiment conducted by Keele University in the UK, expectant mothers listened to the same piece of music over and over during the last three months of pregnancy. They were only allowed to play it to their child for the first time a year after the birth. It turned out that the children preferred these songs to other, similar pieces.
A neuroscientist from McGill University in Canada has now even been able to visualize the feeling of happiness that comes from listening to your favorite music – whether classical, pop or rock – on a brain scan. Large amounts of the neurotransmitter dopamine flow into the brain’s reward system. This usually only happens when “enjoying” food, sex or drugs. Similar principle: The thick headphones that athletes wear before an important competition are usually not a fashion statement; they hear their personal anthem of success to push themselves into a winning mood with the help of dopamine.
Our body loves music
So music can make you happy, sad or aggressive. Also healthy? “If music means something to us personally, awakens feelings or memories, activates or calms us, then these are psychological processes that also influence the physical systems at important control points,” says Prof. Kreutz. Musical and artistic means have always had their place in medicine. Only for a long time the scientific justification was missing. For some time, however, research into the health effects of music therapy has been booming.
Numerous studies have now proven its therapeutic benefits: through its influence on the vegetative nervous system, music reduces muscle tension, lowers heart rate and blood pressure, calms the breathing rhythm, reduces the stress hormone content in the blood and reduces the feeling of fear and pain. “Music does not replace medication,” says Prof. Kreutz, “but its effect is sometimes amazingly similar.”
Music can also help reduce the dose of medication needed. This reduces the risk of side effects and interactions, especially in chronic diseases. Neuroscientists found out that certain pieces of music, e.g. B. the “Allegro” from Bach’s fourth Brandenburg Concerto or a happy Irish dance, the cortisol concentration drop, so that patients needed less anesthetic during an operation.
Music therapy is now also firmly established in pain medicine. The patients have primarily Dr. medical Thanks to Ralph Spintge. The professor of music medicine at the Institute for Music Therapy at the University of Music and Theater in Hamburg and head of the Regional Pain Center at the Hellersen Sports Clinic in Lüdenscheid was recently awarded the German Pain Prize for his services.
“Everyone is receptive to music,” emphasizes Prof. Spintge. Extra pieces of music are sometimes even composed for chronic pain conditions. But usually the choice is based on the preferences of those affected. “In the beginning, we doctors thought we knew what was good for them. Then patients who liked listening to James Last got Mozart on their ears instead – the effect was terrible,” the expert admits.
The cardiologist Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Trappe from the Marienhospital in Herne attributes the greatest healing effect on the cardiovascular system to classical music. Especially compositions by Bach and Handel seem to be suitable for the treatment. The doctor and passionate organist has recorded 25 pieces of this style, which can be heard on the organ CD “Herztouren 2 – Musik für die Gesundheit” . The sales proceeds benefit the German Heart Foundation. “Interestingly, we were also able to demonstrate a drop in blood pressure when listening to heavy metal music,” reports Dr. bustard.
It also depends on which style of music we prefer and have positive associations with. Some get in a good mood when they hear a breathless Helene Fischer on the radio, others switch to other stations with a shudder. Classical music fans often don’t like rock or techno, folk music lovers don’t like jazz and vice versa. This makes it difficult to establish a general therapy. The effect just doesn’t work according to plan. “Everyone is their own expert for their personal taste in music,” says Prof. Kreutz. In his opinion, however, it doesn’t hurt to be able to get involved in different music.
Activating buried memories through music and recognizing certain melodies also makes a valuable contribution to the treatment and care of Alzheimer’s and other dementia patients. Singing together can reduce aggression and provide emotional stability. This makes care easier and improves the quality of life. Because songs that are deeply anchored in the musical memory of those affected and remind of good times return to the surface (e.g. “The most beautiful songs for happy hours” from the SingLiesel series, 29.95 euros, in bookstores .)
The rhythm of our brain
Another way is via our brain waves: These electrochemical impulses oscillate deep in the infinite expanses of our consciousness. Their frequency, visible in the EEG, changes with the activity of the respective brain hemisphere: the deep, slow delta waves (below 4 Hz, ie less than four pulses per second) predominate in the deep sleep phase, theta waves (4.1-8 Hz) characterize one sleepy, relaxed state, alpha waves (8.1–13 Hz) are produced by the brain when the brain is slightly relaxed and the eyes are closed. In everyday life, the brain mostly shows beta waves (13.1-30 Hz). When we challenge our brain, for example when studying or doing other mentally demanding work, the very fast gamma waves (over 30 Hz) pulsate in the brain.
So far, so neurologically good. With special rhythmic music, you can now specifically influence the brain waves and synchronize the two halves of the brain. The brain understands these pulsating sounds and responds to them with a corresponding electrical vibration. In principle, our hearing can only perceive sounds – which are nothing more than vibrations – from a frequency of 20 Hz. However, music that is “subliminal” in the truest sense of the word can put you in a mental state that helps you, for example, to reduce stress (in the frequency range 0.1–11 Hz), to regain your strength (8–10 Hz) , to increase your creativity (6 Hz) or to be able to fall asleep better (1.5-3 Hz).
do something Music!
The healing effect of music does not only come from listening. Dancing or making music and especially singing is also good for your health. Deeper abdominal breathing when singing allows more oxygen to enter the bloodstream. “And it’s also a very effective way to improve the exhalation process,” explains Prof. Kreutz. Lung patients in particular benefit from this. But that’s not all: Studies with choral singers show that they feel emotionally better after singing and that they also have a stronger local immune system in the upper respiratory tract. From a psychosocial point of view, singing together is particularly beneficial: in the case of depression or another mental illness, those affected find it easier to break out of their isolation in this way.
Also noteworthy: Stutterers do not experience any disturbances in the flow of speech as soon as they sing. Speech therapists, psychologists and specialized ENT doctors therefore treat stutterers with special voice and breathing exercises, just like those practiced by professional singers.
When we dance, the brain learns to make new nerve connections. It promotes alertness and the ability to react and at the same time trains coordination. Dance therapy is already being used successfully for neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s or multiple sclerosis. Because the given rhythm helps to be able to keep to the given step sequences motorically.
Do you play an instrument? Then you actively train your auditory center in the brain with a long-term effect. In this way you can compensate for the consequences of age-related hearing loss. On average, non-musicians first suffer from hearing loss at the age of 58, musicians only at the age of 63.
Just enjoy
Whether you prefer to sing, dance, play a musical instrument, or just listen, with fun and enjoyment comes a pinch of health. Surround yourself with sounds, tones, melodies and rhythms that are good for you. Choose according to your mood. Fast songs exhilarate, slower ones help to switch off. “When you listen to a ballad, for example, it often happens that your breathing slows down unconsciously, especially when you exhale,” explains Prof. Kreutz. The body reacts to this by relaxing. “Music is like a vehicle to support a physical relaxation process.”
And if you feel like it, turn off the music and just listen to the silence. Or your heartbeat. Or a cat’s purr.