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Nervous about an upcoming medical procedure? Try singing your troubles away.
Singing comforting songs helped significantly lower the blood pressure of a 76-year-old woman awaiting knee replacement surgery in the Dominican Republic, Harvard researchers report. The woman, who had a 15-year history of osteoarthritis in both knees, had been accepted into Operation Walk Boston, a philanthropic program providing total joint replacement to Dominican patients. She was admitted to Hospital General de la Plaza in Santo Domingo for total replacement of both knee joints last March.
The patient’s blood pressure on admission was 160/90 mmHg, controlled by her usual medication regimen. But two days later, on the morning of surgery, her blood pressure skyrocketed to 240/120 mmHg while she waited in the preoperative holding area. The anesthesiology team sent her back to the floor for additional blood pressure management and postponed her surgery until the following morning. Though doctors started her immediately on additional doses of anti-hypertensive medicines, her systolic pressure stayed at 200 mmHg.
With a tense atmosphere in the patient’s room and time running out before the outreach team would leave the country, the worried patient asked if she could sing.
“Softly at first, and then with increasing volume and passion, the patient sang six religious songs invoking Jesus, God and her Savior to protect the innocent and ill, bring peace, spread truth and heal souls,” the authors wrote in the April issue of Arthritis Care & Research. The patient was a member of the Seventh-Day Adventist church and sang while attending services several times a week.
After two songs, the team found her blood pressure had dropped to 180/90 mmHg. A few songs later, her systolic pressure lowered further. The lower pressures persisted throughout 20 minutes of singing and for several hours after.
“When she started singing, I noticed immediately that she looked a lot calmer – her facial expressions and body language (relaxed), which was reflected in the blood pressure measurements,” says study author Nina Niu, a second-year medical student who was part of the woman’s treatment team.
That night, doctors gave her medical orders to sing as necessary, which she did at various times throughout the night. The next morning she was cleared for surgery and underwent a successful operation with no complications or difficulty with postoperative blood pressure management.
It’s not the first look at music’s impact on health, the authors note. At least nine other studies demonstrated the positive health effects of music therapy on preoperative anxiety and blood pressure management, one of which found that listening to music was as effective as the prescription drug benzodiazepine for reducing blood pressure before surgery.
Crooning may not work for everyone, but it’s worth a try, Niu says: “It’s safe, cost-free and toxicity-free, so it’s a pretty ideal intervention.”
Does a certain song always calm you down? Tell us about it.
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I am facing several major surgeries this year and of course I'm nervous. Funny you should post this article because this song is the one that calms me. Travis with their song Unbelievers
Most definitely, one thing that helps me with my anxiety is humor and comedy. And staying away from any violent or tense movie, online or TV content. Some experts recommend that a person take in some humor every day as one of many helps for anxiety.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I enjoyed your singing article very much. I am the lay leader of our local zen sitting group, and recently did an internet search to inquire about positive benefits of chanting. Many of the results parallel your findings about singing, and its health benefits, especially lowering blood pressure.
Anyhow, I include some of my internet clips (pasted below) for you to look at as you like.
Best,
Charles K. (Isen) Weaverling
Chanting Deserves Your Attention
By H. Bernard Wechsler
December 23 2005
Chanting is Not Crazy and is a Stress buster
Fact: chanting is not a religious thing, although it has been recommended
by Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and the Koran. It is strongly
endorsed as an aid for good health and long-life by Harvard medical school professor – Herbert Benson.
We suggest you spend the outrageous amount of two-minutes daily chanting
because it lowers your heart beat, reduces your blood pressure, and often
completely eliminates anxiety and tension.
Fact: A recent scientific study appeared in the British Medical Journal
by Dr. Luciano Bernardi, University of Pavia, Italy, comparing the benefits
of chanting the Rosary – Ava Maria, and the Hindu – Om-Mani-Padme-Hum.
The measurable results of both chants are: a slowing of breathing rate to six
(6) breaths per minute which synchronizes with our cardiovascular rhythm of
six (6) per minute cycle. Normal breathing is twice as much. Less is better.
The benefits of chanting recited by scientific research are an increase in oxygen,
glucose, and a reduction in carbon dioxide. Consider that your learning requires
an additional 10% oxygen to your brain’s already high requirement of 22% of
all the body’s oxygen. The brain weighs only three-pounds and uses almost a
quarter of our body’s total intake of oxygen.
Glucose is the body’s blood sugar, its fuel, and must be increased for both physical
and mental activity. Alertness, concentration and comprehension are improved
by the removal of carbon dioxide. If all it takes is a BI™ (Behavioral Intelligence),
strategy of two-minutes to get our mind-and-body in-sync – you may want to get
into the habit of chanting.
Chant What?
We recommend the tested and proven mantra (focal sound), OM.
It is chanted in three (3) syllables – A-U-M. The ‘A’ is the ‘a’ in ‘accountant’,
the ‘U’ is the ‘oo’ in ‘wood, and the ‘M’ is the ‘m’ in hum.
You chant the mantra – Ah-Uu-Hum’ and it’s close enough. We find that your
emphasis should be on drawing out the final-syllable – ‘M’ in a humming-sound,
and feel it vibrating in your sinuses.
Don’t complicate chanting – take a deep breath and on exhaling – release your
OM chant in three-syllables. This is not the only positive chant – we have a list of six (6) we suggest to our students, based on their personality.
More Benefits
Speedlearners who are chanters of just two-minutes daily tend to release their ANTs (Automatic NegativeThoughts), and replace them with APTs – Automatic Positive
Thoughts. Way better for your mind and body.
Our research indicates chanters read up to 50% faster, and remember about 40% longer than ‘normal’ non-chanters. They ace school, their classes and tests, and in their career, up to 40% more productive.
Their productivity is recognized by their organizations with an increasing number of promotions and raises. Industrial ‘headhunters’ seek them out with job offers,
and financial arrangements that mirror that of athletes.
These people are demonstrably happier and resistant to stress, illness, and seem
to have discovered the Fountain of Youth.
It’s Easy And Simple to do
Step 1: Sit down, feet flat, eyes closed.
Step 2: Take a deep diaphragmatic breath, and on exhaling say out loud
the three-syllables AH-UU-HUM of the ‘Om’ mantra – in-a-loop. Inhale deeply
and repeat your mantra again. Remember – the secret is to have the last syllable,
‘M’ to vibrate in your sinuses. Repeat it about ten (10) times.
Total time required is just two-minutes.
Step 3: Before you open your eyes, choose to place a Duchenne-Smile on your
face (mouth and EYES), and end this meditation by silently (sub-vox), saying
“And it is so.”
Step 4: Now jump into your next activity with the sure knowledge
you are fully relaxed, in the flow, in the zone, and ready for a peak-performance.
Endwords
Most students will ignore the benefits of chanting because it seems ‘dumb’,
foreign, or ‘otherworldly’. It has a successful history of four-millenium.
Benny Franklin attended a party right after he discovered that lightning and
electricity were identical and was the ‘toast-of-the-colonies’. He was considered
a national treasure and an international celebrity.
The rich wife of a Boston aristocrat faced him with a serious question –
“Doctor Franklin – I have tried and been found wanting, tell me this – what is your ‘electricity’ - good for?”
Well, it was the middle of the eighteenth century and the truthful answer
was – “nothing!”.
“Madam”, Franklin responded, “what ‘good’ is a new-born baby?”
You will not comprehend the value of your chanting until you - use it.
Chanting is a means of preserving health and well-being. Even medical science has accepted this. Research shows that the use of sound can stabilize heart rate, reduce blood pressure, improve circulation, produce endorphins and aid the process of metabolism.
Scientists too have accepted the health benefits of meditation, proof of which was seen as a cover story in Time magazine titled "Meditation works," detailing the scientific research that shows it can profoundly affect the body and actually reshape the brain.
Says an expert, "When we chant, it cleanses the mind like water cleanses the body." Mantra helps us relax. A relaxed state of mind is a sign of good mental and physical health.
Good for you Body
It is rather simple. Chanting is actually the first step to meditation. It focuses on a simple phrase and melody and repeats it over and over. The repetition relaxes the mind, and the body thus becomes ready to meditate.
Article Source:
Yoga mantras and rosary prayer may be good for the heart, a study published in the British Medical Journal reports.
University of Pavia researcher Luciano Bernardi and colleagues recorded 23 men and women reciting the Ave Maria in Latin and the yoga mantra om-mani-padme-om. They found that during recitation of the Ave Maria and yoga mantra, breathing was regular and slowed to a rate of about 6 breaths per minute compared to spontaneous breathing and random talking.
Slowing the breathing rate to 6 breaths per minute appears to
Yes, singing itself can help calm the nerves. But I think the article is missing an important piece: the woman was singing songs of faith to God. It may not have been the act of singing alone that helped, but her faith as well. I am a Christian too, and when I get nervous and I pray, read the Bible or think about God, it definitely helps me to remember that He is taking care of everything and calms me down.