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Increase Your Intelligence With
Music
By Steve Gillman
You Are What You Listen To
Can music really help you think better?
Yes, according to the research that has been done so far.
Listening to, and participating in music
creates new neural pathways in your brain that stimulate creativity.
Studies have shown that music actually trains the brain for higher
forms of thinking. There was a study at the University of California,
for example, about 10 years ago.
Researchers followed the progress of three
year olds, split into two groups. The first group had no particular
training in, or exposure to music. The second group studied piano
and sang daily in chorus.
After eight months the musical three year
olds were much better at solving puzzles. When tested, they also
scored 80% higher in spatial intelligence than the non musical
group. With such a dramatic difference, there is bound to be
more research like this in the future.
There is also anecdotal evidence that listening
to music, especially from Mozart's era, can help you study and
learn better. Hopefully there will be research done to confirm
or disprove this soon, but there is really no good reason not
to do your own experimentation in this area. Stephen King writes
with loud rock music playing, so maybe any benefits here are
according to your own tastes or brain-organization.
Brainwave Entrainment
Want to listen to some music, and get smarter?
There are a number of products out there that are based on an
entirely different principle than the research mentioned above.
They rely on "entraining" your brainwaves, in order
to put you in a meditative state.
Brain wave frequencies vary according to
mental state. Daydreaming and light meditation usually take place
in the "Alpha" range of frequencies, for example. So
if you listen to music containing beats at a frequency of 10
Hz it will feel very relaxing, because your brain will begin
to follow this frequency and reproduce the rhythm in the music.
You will automatically generate more brainwaves at a 10 Hz frequency
and enter a relaxed Alpha mental state.
What these new products do is embed music
with beats and pulses that entrain your brain waves to a specific
frequency. You just put in the right CD or MP3 for your activity
(you don't want an Alpha state for analytical work), and you
get better brain function. Science? Partly.
It is well established that our brain wave
frequencies change with our mental states and vice-versa. It
is has also been clearly demonstrated that meditators can go
into an alpha state at will, and that this has beneficial effects
(lowering of stress, blood pressure, etc.). Do the tapes accomplish
this more easily?
Yes, in my experience. I've found two products
that put me in a peaceful state unlike any other music or meditative
practice. Studies will prove the effects (some have already),
and disprove the wilder claims of some of these products. Given
the results I experienced, however, I wouldn't wait for the research,
any more than I would have waited for proof of the existence
of vitamin C before I'd continue eating limes to cure scurvy
a hundred years ago.
Wait for more evidence of the benefits
of brainwave entrainment, if you must, but why not try classical
music the next time you need to study, just to see if it helps?
Experiment with music - I haven't yet heard of any damage caused
by Mozart.
Steve Gillman
has been studying brain improvement, concentration, creative
problem solving, and related topics for years. You can visit
his website, and subscribe for free to his Brain Power Newsletter
at: http://www.IncreaseBrainPower.com/newsletter.html
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