The Power of Baroque Music as Help for Anxiety

Baroque music i.e. music composed during the Baroque era (1600 - 1750) has been shown to have a calming effect on the brain. It is generally the slow movements of such music which has this effect.

It is believed to be it does this because the rhythm is around 60 beats per minute which is similar to a resting heartrate. The brain 'entrains' itself to rhythm. We have all noticed the tendency of our foot to tap when we hear certain types of music. This is the brain buying into the rhythm and going along with it.

We all have brainwaves which move at different frequencies depending what we are doing or thinking. An EEG recording is similar to the more familiar ECG for measuring the heart. With an EEG, however, the electrodes are placed on the head.

This is a painless procedure. The electrodes gives a readout of wiggly lines. These show the frequency of the brainwaves produced in the different areas.

What do the different brainwave frequencies mean?

Brainwaves in a human vary from beta waves (which are upwards of 15 cycles per second) and appear very spiky, through alpha waves, theta waves, and delta waves. 

Most of the time we are awake and participating in everyday life we have beta waves.

When we are deeply asleep we have a high percentage of delta waves which are like a gently rolling ocean.

So as we fall asleep our brainwaves gradually slow through all the stages to delta. Then they move back up again as we wake.

When we dream we are usually in theta and then if this is just one dream period we then go deeper again. There is a diagram of this on the page that explains nightmares.

Alpha waves are the daytime magic ones, when we are awake.

It is during alpha that we can access our unconscious thoughts. During hypnosis the client goes into the alpha state so that their issues may be accessed without the thinking and rationalising part of the brain getting in the way.

It is thought that it is during our dreams when we sleep that we resolve issues of the day and that is done during theta.

How do we know all this?

Research in Bulgaria have found that slow Baroque music entrains the brain into alpha waves. Studies have been done whereby such music, when played in the background during lessons in junior school classrooms, has a calming effect and enables children to concentrate on their lesson far better.

I have sometimes given patients suffering from PTSD or other severe anxieties which stopped them sleeping, or gave them constant nightmares, a CD of Baroque music with the instruction to just play it quietly in the background when they go to bed. In many cases this has had a significant effect and has enabled them to sleep better, often through the night, and to reduce the occurrence of nightmares.

To feel the calming effect of this music you don't have to consciously listen to it but to allow it to play softly in the background as you do everyday tasks. 

I have found some commercially available cds of this music which are available to buy should you wish. The most famous Baroque (1600-1760) composers are probably Bach, Vivaldi, Pachelbel, Handel Telemann, Purcell, Scarlatti. It is the slow, largo, movements of their works which are relevant here. There are few CDs available at present which are made up exclusively of such tracks so you may have to put together your own. Some of the tracks can be purchased individually as mp3 downloads on Amazon and similar sites.

If you feel inclined to listen to largo music combined with the sounds of nature, then I can recommend the Solitudes series by Dan Gibson, which do just that. There are two CDs of music by Pachelbel, Forever by the Sea and In the Garden as well as Bach Forever by the Sea which incorporates his music with the sounds of the ocean. Further details of these can be found in my Amazon Store.

Source: http://www.what-to-do-about-anxiety.com/baroque_music.html#.U2LUkKIVf15