The Scientists Are Climbing the Mountain
The research is being conducted and the evidence is growing rapidly. Sound--not only moves us emotionally, but affects us at a profound, preconscious, cellular level.
One study recently demonstrated that we vibrate with our environments before we're even "legally" considered alive in most Western cultures.
At the University of Leicester's School of Psychology in England, researchers exposed babies in utero to music for up to three months before they were born and then not again until they were at least a year old--that is, only the first six months of gestation.
In the data Dr. Alexandra Lamont found evidence that the babies not only remembered and recognized the music they heard in the womb, but retained the memory of it for at least a year.
This sensitivity to music continues as we age. Research led by Dr. Frederick Tims of Michigan State University (November 1999, Alternative Therapies) showed that patients with Alzheimer's Disease who underwent four weeks of structured music therapy showed significant increases in their level of melatonin, a chemical linked with sleep regulation and immune response.
In one of the latest, more pointed studies, several researchers studied the effects of music on hypertension. (Arq Bras Cardiol.2009 Nov;93(5):534-40. Music therapy effects on the quality of life and the blood pressure of hypertensive patients. Zanini CR, et al.)
They concluded:
"Music therapy has contributed to an improvement on the quality of life and blood pressure control of patients, suggesting that this activity may represent a therapeutic approach to help strengthen the programs of multidisciplinary care of hypertensive patients."
What is this Magic? How Does Sound Heal?
