Out of the many ways we make sense of the world around us, listening to sounds happens to be one of the main ones. One could say that it is integral to the human experience. After all, different types of sounds incite different types of emotions and feelings within us. Maybe this is why humans learned to make use of sounds in ways that other species can’t even imagine.
But the relevance of sound in our lives extends far beyond just how it makes us feel. It reaches the depths of our being and impacts us on a physical, mental, emotional, and even spiritual level. This has been understood by humans since ancient times. Archaeological findings throughout the world suggest that the use of sounds for different purposes dates back tens of thousands of years.
Among all the different techniques, the use of sounds for healing the various aspects of our health is perhaps the most significant. Before we move on to discuss all the additional health benefits of sound healing, let’s first take a look at how the ancients used this practice. This will provide a better context of how our understanding of it has evolved over time.
How The Ancients Used Sound Healing
It is difficult to say precisely when, where and how sound healing emerged. That’s because we only have clues from the time our recorded history began. Ancient paintings in caves and other places, for example, tell us that archaic instruments like singing bowls, didgeridoos, monochords, and gongs were heavily used for sound healing back then. The didgeridoo, for instance, dates back to more than 40,000 years. Even today, when you hear these instruments, you can get a sense of how effective they might have been back then.
In Egypt, we can still find proof of musical incantations that were used to heal sick people thousands of years ago. In post-classical Greece, physicians used flutes, zithers, and lyres, to aid in digestion, improve sleep, and solve mental traumas. In fact, the popular philosopher, Aristotle, wrote in his famous book De Anima (in 350 BCE) that the flute could be used to stir up strong emotions in humans and purify our souls.
In ancient Tibet, singing bowls and ring gongs were used to aid in mindfulness practices that, in turn, had a number of health benefits. These bowls are still used in modern times. Similarly, the yogic traditions out of India have always recognized the effects of chants and mantras on various parts of our bodies.
Now that we have some historical context, let’s take a look at the various benefits of sound healing in the modern world.
The Benefits of Sound Healing
We have all experienced the tremendous effects of sounds in our lives, whether we realize it or not. When you hear a happy song, you can’t help but feel better. Similarly, when you are in nature amidst all of its sounds, you can’t help but feel peaceful and relaxed. And if you wake up at 5 am in the morning, the mere quietness and peacefulness of the usually loud and busy city can create a tranquil feeling in you and boost your creativity and production.
There is a reason why sound has this impact on us. The atoms in our bodies are all vibrating at their own frequencies. Depending on the thought you are thinking and the emotion you are feeling, these vibrations can change quite a bit. When we feel positive emotions, we are essentially vibrating at higher frequencies. When we feel negative emotions, we vibrate at lower frequencies. The same happens when you are suffering from any physical or mental ailment as well.
Now, there are many sounds that can bring your atoms and molecules back to their natural vibrational state. It is this that makes healing happen. Due to this phenomenon, sounds can be used for a number of targeted applications. Here, we’ll mention just a handful of the most important ones.
- Sound Healing Reduces Stress
We all know that stress has become an unwanted part of modern-day life. The fast-paced lifestyle that most of us lead is simply too much for our minds, and sooner or later, we all feel the heat. What’s more worrying is that stress can lead to secondary diseases like diabetes, asthma, heart problems, blood pressure irregularities, gastrointestinal problems, and even Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for anyone to deal with this menace constantly.
Fortunately, sound healing is becoming one of the most preferred ways to do just that. Many people, by experience, have discovered certain types of sounds or music tracks that can help them significantly reduce their stress. All it takes is a pair of headphones and a quiet room. In addition, some research studies have found that sound healing is even better at reducing stress and anxiety and promoting relaxation than prescription drugs.
- Sound Healing Improves Psychological & Physiological Health
For our proper functioning, it is important that we are healthy both physically and psychologically. If any part of your body or your internal organ is diseased, it can reduce the quality of your life by a lot. Similarly, if you are not psychologically fit, you can’t enjoy the phenomenon of life. Instead, every day will start looking like a chore. Unfortunately, this is the living experience of millions of people worldwide.
Sound healing can come to the rescue of these people. In many newer research studies, scientists have found that sound healing can enhance our psychological and physiological health. This is true, especially in the case of adults who have recurring medical or mental health needs. More research is still needed to prove these benefits completely. However, there is sufficient evidence for us to at least try sound healing out.
- Sound Healing Can Alleviate Physical Pain
We are all aware that pain is a natural part of life. In fact, pain serves its own purpose in the human body. Without it, our brains wouldn’t even know what to repair, and we wouldn’t pay attention to any ailing part of the body. The result, if that were the case, would have been chaotic. However, there are times when pain can become so intolerable and so chronic that one just wants relief from it. Usually, people tend to take painkillers to deal with their pain. However, these come with their own side effects.
Sound healing, on the other hand, doesn’t have any side effects and can help us get relief from physical pain. Some research shows that tuning fork therapy can relieve muscle and bone pain. It works similarly to acupuncture in that it releases tension and stagnant energy from a particular part. Only, in this case, there are no needles involved.
- Sound Healing Improves The Cardiovascular System
The cardiovascular system of humans has taken a massive hit in today’s world. Not only do we not exercise as much as required, but we also stuff our bodies with a lot of junk food. Add to this all the stress and anxiety we go through on a daily basis, and the picture becomes clearer why so many people suffer from cardiovascular problems nowadays. This is why we see elevated heart rates, high/low blood pressure, clogged arteries, and so on.
For all the people suffering from these disorders, sound healing comes as a big boon. Research in this area is quite established and dates back to the late 1700s. Diogel of Salpetriere Hospital in Paris initially reported that sound healing lowered blood pressure, increased cardiac output, decreased pulse rate, and aided the parasympathetic system. Research conducted in the succeeding centuries has confirmed all these benefits of sound healing.
- Sound Healing May Disintegrate Cancer Cells
Cancer still remains one of the most serious and terrifying diseases in the modern era. Unfortunately, there are many types of cancers whose cure is still unknown. And for the ones that we can cure, the process is often heartbreaking and has many post-therapy side effects. Also, the costs associated with the treatment are often out of reach for many people.
Although more research is needed in this area, early studies show that sound healing may disintegrate cancer cells. Fabien Maman, musician, and researcher, conducted experiments in 1997 to test the effects of sounds on cancerous cells. He specifically did experiments using HeLa cancer cells from the uterus. He found that when exposed to all the notes of the musical scale played at 30-40 decibels, the cancer cells became unstable and disintegrated. In the same experiments, he found that the healthy cells absorbed the sounds without much resistance.
- Sound Healing Can Reduce Effects of Alzheimer’s Disease
Like cancer, Alzheimer’s disease remains one of the feared diseases currently plaguing humanity. Not only does the person having this disease suffer, but their family members and other close ones do as well. There are many potential cures and therapies for this disease, but nothing has been shown to work permanently.
This is where sound healing can play a therapeutic role. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have recently found in their studies that light and sound therapy could be used to reduce the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. They even found that the plaque that causes Alzheimer’s clears up during such treatment in mice’s brains. This shows promise for human beings as well.
- Sound Healing Can Reduce Fatigue And Improve Sleep
It is estimated that around half the world’s population suffers from sleep disorders of some kind. If you look around, you might find that many people these days look chronically tired. This might have to do with improper sleep and a lack of rest in general. But, of course, the mounting pressures of everyday life are another critical reason why this happens.
These are the people who can really benefit from sound healing. For example, in one study of people with fibromyalgia, it was found that sound healing greatly improved sleep quality, reduced fatigue, and even decreased pain. The study involved ten treatments of low-frequency sound stimulation done twice per week for five weeks. As a result, the participant’s quality of life not only improved, they also decreased their intake of pain medication!
- Sound Healing Promotes A More Positive Attitude
This benefit is kind of a culmination of all other benefits of sound healing. Regular practitioners of sound healing are much more relaxed and at peace than those who don’t practice it. But there is also a psychological reason why practitioners generally have a more positive attitude. This is because they know that they are taking care of their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs using sound therapy.
This gives them a much-needed assurance that everything is alright in their inner world. This sense of satisfaction manifests as a more positive outlook towards life in the external world as well. As such, every dimension of their lives tends to feel the positive effects as they sail through life effortlessly.
Final Thoughts
Sound healing is an ancient practice that has a profound relevance and significance in the modern world. In fact, we could say that it is more important now than ever. This is because our lifestyles need something that can balance out the extremes and help us find the balance again. Not only that, we need something that can constantly keep the various aspects of our health in check.
Many research studies and historical accounts show that sound healing has a whole host of benefits for our health. From physical to psychological states, sound healing has the potential to keep everything just as it should be. Therefore, it is only logical to make it a part of our daily lives.