Tag: oxytocin

Peace Plan: Music 101

“Music is the great uniter. An incredible force. Something that people who differ on everything and anything else can have in common.” Sarah Dessen, American novelist of young adult fiction

Music is a soother for many ills. Why not apply it to world peace?

Adam Weingarten is the music director of Boston University’s Hillel, offering the first music program of its kind for any chapter of Hillel International. Weingarten’s goal is to bring students together, Jewish and non-Jewish. His take on college life today is a microcosm of what all of us may be experiencing:“It’s harder for people to connect now…to see what we have in common. Having a common memory, having a night where you had a good time with someone else, that can bond you for life—or at least for the four years you’re here.”

As a youth, Weingarten enjoyed singalongs at Jewish summer camp alongside the music of his favorite band, the Beatles. He created his own band, “Sounds of the Attic,” while combining Judaic studies and audio engineering. His philosophy of music is as simple as it is profound: “…little moments actually make the biggest impact…just like a song has a progression, a beginning, middle, and end, and every part of it is equally important, that’s what I want the kids to feel during their college experience—making their story flow like a perfect piece of music.”

Music is as old as_________. Fill in the blank. Likely the first humans chanted and had choir practice. It is believed that oral storytelling was often embellished through song, especially with rowers at sea or ancient dramas embellished by a Greek chorus.

Ancient Egyptian temple priests were thought to use “vocal toning” (that resonated within stone walls) to align humans with deity. Buddhist monastics chanted Om as a meditative practice. Confucius is considered a promoter of the powers of music and tone. Ancient Greek physicians used musical incantations and vibration accompanied by flutes and lyres to heal the sick; music was believed to purge negativity, improve digestion and sleep, and treat joint issues like gout. In Finland the vocal practice of lament was part of healing grief, loss, and other traumas.

These early intuitives were on the right track. Research in the 1950s-1960s found that patients with religious leanings and an enjoyment of classical music would respond faster in healing from postoperative retinal detachment than those without these characteristics. Science today identifies how music affects the brain’s limbic system and produces changes in neurotransmitters, such as catecholamine, indolamine, dopamine, endorphin, and the latest, neuron growth hormone. During group singing, bonding-hormone oxytocin is released, producing trust and social connection. I experience this, singing with 130+ others in my community’s Peace Choir.

Research bears out Weingarten’s hunches about music’s peaceful power: complete strangers may develop close bonds after singing together for just one hour.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

538. When might you consider music as a healer?

539. How often do you sing with other people? If not, why not?  

Women and Well-being

Following last week’s blog, Men and Well-being, it seems appropriate to address women’s well-being. First, here is a 4-point working definition of well-being that is supported by neuroscience research from the Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison:

  • Awareness: A heightened, flexible attentiveness to one’s environment and internal cues such as bodily sensations, thoughts and feelings.
  • Connection: A feeling of care and kinship toward other people that promotes supportive relationships through acknowledging and understanding another’s unique perspective.
  • Insight: A self-knowledge concerning how one’s emotions, thoughts and beliefs shape their experiences and sense of self.
  • Purpose: A keen understanding about one’s core values and deeper motivation to be capable of applying them in daily life.

Perhaps you know some women who embody these concepts. I know many women who are proficient in these ways of well-being. My theory about why this is so prevalent among women is that women are the ones who give birth to the future generation. Whether they have this opportunity or not, they often are responsible for educating precious children. These givers of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness need their own well-being honed to be capable of being positive role models in guiding youth.

It is a huge benefit that women have a good amount of the hormone and neurotransmitter, oxytocin, sometimes referred to as the “love hormone.” Men have less of this hormone gem, although they do possess oxytocin. Couples in the early stages of a romantic attachment have significantly higher levels of oxytocin than singles! Oxytocin is an arousal helper. Levels of the hormone spike both during and after sex. Hugs, physical touch and meaningful eye contact all release oxytocin.

Oxytocin is not just related to reproduction; it is involved in many of the positive emotions that we experience. Research suggests that men with higher-than-average oxytocin levels show greater empathy, trust, and attachment in their ongoing relationships. Oxytocin helps parents form lifelong bonds with their children. Oxytocin also is effective as a natural stress-reliever, as it can lower blood pressure and improve circulation. It has anti-inflammatory possibilities.

Overall, oxytocin is a hormone that helps one feel balanced. When oxytocin levels are low, there are noticeable effects in an individual that are troublesome – a low ability in relating to others, a reduced empathy range, and/or greater-than-average feelings of loneliness and anxiety.  Practices like meditation, deep breathing, and yoga can help release oxytocin.

There is a great need for all of us to awaken to our birthright of well-being. This is our time, this present time, to bond with one another. Our planet depends upon it. Our country depends upon it. Our communities depend upon it. Our families depend upon it. As ballerina and member of the Osage Nation, Maria Tallchief reminded, “Very often you are in the right place, at the right time, but you don’t know it.”

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

429. When are you aware of experiencing well-being?

430. What purpose might you fulfill today?