The research studies summarized thus far in this Overview, taken together, have painted a picture of the profound favorable effects that mental/emotional balance and heart-focused positive feeling states have on the body and psyche-from promoting increased autonomic balance and greater coherence in cardiac and brain function, to boosting natural immunity and DHEA levels, to significantly reducing stress and negative affect and increasing positive affect. Understanding the significance of this impressive range of effects, as well as the power of music as a universal mode of expression, Doc Childre, as a composer, sought to scientifically design music for the specific purpose of promoting mental and emotional balance in listeners,
facilitating the experience of heart-focused positive feeling states and the use of the HeartMath tools. Through several years of research in IHM’s 24-track recording studio, Childre created two musical works which integrate specific rhythmic patterns, tone textures, chord progressions and harmonic resonances to produce their intended effects. The results of the research studies reviewed in this section clearly demonstrate this music to elicit specific beneficial responses in listeners’ physiological, mental and emotional systems.
Music that Enhances Emotional Balance and Mental Clarity
Doc’s first release, Heart Zones, spent 50 consecutive weeks on Billboard’s Adult Alternative chart and introduced a new musical genre: ’designer music,’ a term used to describe music that is intentionally designed to affect the listener in specific ways. Heart Zones was specifically designed to facilitate stress reduction, boost vitality and increase buoyancy and clarity. The music has been described as a mental and emotional workout’ and is intended to produce a ’calm yet energetic alertness’ in the listener. Childre’s second designer music release, entitled Speed of Balance – A Musical Adventure for Mental and Emotional Regeneration, was composed with the intent to facilitate mental and emotional balance in listeners, enabling people to experience clearer and more positive perceptions. Among the intended effects of Speed of Balance are to energize the listener, enhance creativity and improve clear decision making.
Numerous studies have shown that music affects emotions and mood states and can also modify physiological responses. It is well recognized, as demonstrated in many of the papers summarized in this overview, that changes in mental and emotional activity alter autonomic nervous system function. The ANS, in turn, regulates cardiovascular, neuroendocrine and immune system activity. Thus, it is postulated that since music alters mood and emotional state, the immune, hormonal, cardiovascular and other physiological changes observed after people listen to music are likely to be mediated by the ANS.
The studies presented below provide evidence that it is through this mechanism that Childre’s designer music exerts its effects on listeners. In the first study, Heart Zones, in contrast to other types of music tested, is shown to produce significant increases in listeners’ secretory IgA levels, accompanied by corresponding increases in total autonomic activity. The second study demonstrates that Speed of Balance significantly affects listeners’ mood and emotions, producing significantly greater increases in positive affect and decreases in negative affect than any other form of music tested.
It appears that it is these profound favorable shifts in emotional state that directly impact the ANS, giving rise to the beneficial physiological repercussions of the music. This is further supported by the results seen when the music is used in conjunction with the HeartMath techniques. While research shows that simply casually listening to Heart Zones and Speed of Balance produces significant beneficial psychological and physiological effects, both pieces of music were designed to be maximally effective when used to facilitate the practice of the HeartMath emotional management interventions. Both studies below demonstrate that when people listen to Heart Zones or Speed of Balance while sustaining a sincere, heart-focused state of appreciation through the Heart Lock-In technique, significantly larger positive emotional, mental and physiological shifts are experienced as compared to listening to the music alone.
While the two studies reviewed below were specifically designed to examine the effects of the music, Childre’s music was also used in conjunction with the Heart Lock-In and Cut-Thru interventions in a number of other studies described in this Overview (see Emotional Balance and Health and Clinical Research sections). In addition, a growing number of case histories are demonstrating programs combining the use of the music with the HeartMath techniques to be effective in improving autonomic
imbalances and symptomatology associated with many clinical conditions. Heart Zones has been shown to be particularly effective in facilitating the entrainment mode of cardiac function and restoring autonomic balance in patients with hypertension, arrhythmias and fatigue, while Speed of Balance is conducive to promoting emotional regeneration in individuals with anxiety, depression and panic disorder. The results suggest that regular use of music to facilitate emotional management interventions can be an inexpensive, effective method to generate significant psychological and physiological benefits.
Music Enhances the Effect of Positive Emotional States on Salivary IGA
Rollin McCraty, PhD, Mike Atkinson, Glen Rein, PhD and Alan D. Watkins, MBBS. Stress Medicine. 1996; 12 (3): 167-175.
Key findings: Music designed to promote mental and emotional balance can increase autonomic power and heighten the beneficial effects of positive emotional states on the immune system.
Summary: This study examined the effect of music and positive emotional states on autonomic nervous system and immune system function in healthy individuals. Autonomic activity was assessed using power spectral density analysis of heart rate variability, and secretory IgA, measured from saliva samples, was used as a marker of immunity. The effects of rock and New Age music were compared to the designer music release Heart Zones, composed by Doc Childre. This music was specifically designed to facilitate mental and emotional balance,
boost vitality, enhance learning and promote autonomic nervous system balance. Subjects listened to each category of music for 15 minutes on separate days. In addition, two separate sessions were conducted to test the effects of subjects sustaining a sincere, focused state of appreciation using the Heart Lock-In technique. In one session, subjects practiced the Heart Lock-In technique for 15 minutes with no music; in the other session, subjects performed the Heart Lock-In while listening to Heart Zones, which was specifically designed to facilitate the practice and heighten the beneficial effects of this technique.
Figure 24.
Average change in IgA levels after listening to the different types of music, doing a Heart Lock-In without music and a Heart Lock-In facilitated with the Heart Zones music. Note the synergistic effect of the Lock-In and Heart Zones. * p < .05, ** p < .01.
There were significant increases in total autonomic activity and in S-IgA concentrations during the Heart Zones music session, the Heart Lock-In session and during the session combining the Heart Lock-In and Heart Zones music. In contrast, there were no significant changes in total autonomic activity or S-IgA concentrations during the New Age, rock music or no music control sessions. While both Heart Zones and the Heart Lock-In alone significantly increased S-IgA levels (increases of 55% and 50%, respectively, were measured), the combination of Heart Zones and the Heart Lock-In produced a significantly greater immunoenhancement (141% increase in S-IgA levels) than either condition alone (Figure 24).
This study provides evidence that the immunoenhancing effects of designer music and self-induced states of appreciation may be mediated by the autonomic nervous system, as an increase in autonomic spectral power was measured in all cases in which there was an increase in S-IgA. Our results demonstrate that Heart Zones music is effective in potentiating the immunoenhancing effects of the Heart Lock-In technique. We conclude that music can be designed to enhance the beneficial effects of positive emotional states on immunity and suggest that music and emotional self management may yield significant health benefits in a variety of clinical situations in which there is immunosuppression and autonomic imbalance.
The Effects of Different Music on Mood, Tension and Mental Clarity
Rollin McCraty, PhD, Bob Barrios-Choplin, PhD, Mike Atkinson and Dana Tomasino, BA. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. 1998; 4 (1): 75-84.
Key findings: Music designed to facilitate mental and emotional balance can produce significant increases in positive moods, vigor and mental clarity and decreases in tension, burnout and negative moods.
Summary: The previous study, "Music enhances the effect of positive emotional states on salivary IgA," demonstrated that designer music and the Heart Lock-In technique produce measurable changes in subjects’ autonomic nervous system activity and immune function. In the present study, we provide evidence to support the hypothesis that these favorable shifts derive from positive changes produced in subjects’ mood and emotional states, which are well known to affect the ANS.
This study investigated the impact of different types of music on individuals’ tension, mood and mental clarity. A total of 144 adult and teenage subjects completed a psychological profile before and after listening for 15 minutes to four types of music: grunge rock, classical, New Age and designer. The designer music used in this study was Speed of Balance, created by Doc Childre to facilitate mental and emotional balance and help people experience clearer and more positive perceptions. The music is specifically intended to enhance creativity, promote clear decision making and boost physical energy. The effects of Speed of Balance were examined in two experimental conditions: first, in comparison to the other types of music in all subjects, and again, in a subgroup of individuals who practiced the Heart Lock-In technique while listening to the music.
Grunge rock music produced significant increases in hostility, fatigue, sadness and tension and led to significant reductions in caring, relaxation, mental clarity and vigor. In contrast, Speed of Balance produced significant increases in all positive scales: caring, relaxation, mental clarity and vigor. Significant decreases were produced in all negative scales: hostility, fatigue, sadness and tension. Both the adult and teenage subgroups were negatively affected by the grunge rock music and positively affected by Speed of Balance, with very little difference between the two groups’ responses. Results for New Age and classical music were mixed (Figure 25).
Figure 25.
Percent change in mood, tension and mental clarity for each category of music. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001.
When participants listened to Speed of Balance while self-generating a sincere feeling of appreciation using the Heart Lock-In technique, the beneficial effects were heightened: Subjects experienced increases in caring, mental clarity and vigor which were significantly greater than the favorable shifts produced from listening to the music alone (Figure 26). Results indicate that all types of music created feeling shifts. Of the music used in this study, Speed of Balance was most effective in increasing positive feelings and decreasing negative feelings.
Our results support the hypothesis that the positive shifts in autonomic nervous system activity and immune function measured in previous studies employing designer music and the Heart Lock-In technique derive from changes produced in subjects’ feeling states. This study presents a rationale for the use of designer music and the Heart Lock-In technique in the treatment of tension, mental distraction and negative moods and the enhancement of emotional well-being and mental clarity. Given the connection between attitudes, emotions and health, these results indicate that music designed to facilitate emotional management can be an inexpensive and easy method to reduce stress and promote overall wellness.
Figure 26.
Compares the effects on mood, tension and mental clarity of listening to the Speed of Balance music alone versus practicing the Heart Lock-In technique while listening to Speed of Balance. The combination of the Lock-In + Speed of Balance resulted in significant positive shifts beyond the already significant improvements produced by the music alone. * p < .05, ** p < .01.
