The Neurochemistry of Music

“Music is used to regulate mood and arousal in everyday life and to promote physical and psychological health and well-being in clinical settings. However, scientific inquiry into the neurochemical effects of music is still in its infancy. In this review, we evaluate the evidence that music improves health and well-being through the engagement of neurochemical … Read more

80 Year Long Study Discovers Secrets to Longevity and Happiness

“Over the years, researchers have studied the participants’ health trajectories and their broader lives, including their triumphs and failures in careers and marriage, and the finding have produced startling lessons, and not only for the researchers. “The surprising finding is that our relationships and how happy we are in our relationships has a powerful influence … Read more

Brain Connectivity and Human Response to Musical Aesthetics

In Summary, Musicians have more neurons in the emotional and social processing areas of their brains … music = emotional intelligence. “Using a combination of survey data, behavioral and psychophysiological measures and diffusion tensor imaging, we found that white matter connectivity between sensory processing areas in the superior temporal gyrus and emotional and social processing … Read more

Effects of Rosary Prayer and Mantra on the Heart

Objective To test whether rhythmic formulas such as the rosary and yoga mantras can synchronise and reinforce inherent cardiovascular rhythms and modify baroreflex sensitivity. Design Comparison of effects of recitation of the Ave Maria (in Latin) or of a mantra, during spontaneous and metronome controlled breathing, on breathing rate and on spontaneous oscillations in RR … Read more

A Neuroscientist Explores the “Sanskrit Effect” – How Mantra Increases Cognitive Function

“We studied a group of verbal memory specialists to determine whether intensive oral text memory is associated with structural features of hippocampal and lateral-temporal regions implicated in language processing. Professional Vedic Sanskrit Pandits in India train from childhood for around 10years in an ancient, formalized tradition of oral Sanskrit text memorization and recitation, mastering the … Read more

Improvisational Music and Depression Study

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6489303/ “Improvisational music therapy is suitable for basically all client groups without the need for specific musical training, and can be successfully applied even when one’s ability for verbal expression is limited [13, 14]. Any adult with normally developed cognitive skills and abstract thinking is able to connect symbolic and experience-based mental contents to their … Read more

Cardiac Coherence, Self-Regulation, and Well Being

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4179616/ “In this article we discuss the perspective that one’s ability to self-regulate the quality of feeling and emotion of one’s moment-to-moment experience is intimately tied to our physiology, and the reciprocal interactions among physiological, cognitive, and emotional systems. These interactions form the basis of information processing networks in which communication between systems occurs through … Read more