Life got you feeling overwhelmed? Here is some sound medicine to help you relax.
2 min readMay 3, 2022
What can cause someone to feel overwhelmed?
- Medication (depending on the side effects)
- Guzzling too much caffeine
- Lack of sleep
- Overworking
- Dehydration
- Unhealthy relationships
- Lack of support
- Taking on too many tasks
- People pleasing
- Lack of adequate nutrients for hormone and neurotransmitter balance
- Poor blood sugar balance
- Perfectionism
Always address the root cause of why you are experiencing overwhelm or burnout.
For now though, here are some sounds that are proven to elicit a relaxation response in the body.
What are some evidence-based sounds that can help you relax?
Brown Noise (click to hear)
- A low-frequency tone that sounds like distant ocean waves. This has been shown to help induce a relaxed state in many.
528 Hz Sound Wave (click to hear)
- This has been studied in rats and was shown to reduce the total concentration of reactive oxidative species (pro-aging molecules) in brain tissue. Prolonged exposure to this sound wave also showed a reduction of anxiety-related behaviours in rats.
Singing Bowls (click to hear)
- These glorious bowls have been studied and produced these positive benefits: Improvements in distress, positive and negative affect, anxiety, depression, fatigue, tension, anger, confusion and vigour were reported, as were improvements in blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, peripheral capillary oxygen saturation, cutaneous conductance, and anterior-frontal alpha values.
40-Hz Binaural Beats (click to hear)
- Some people will find any old binaural beats online for benefiting their brain in some capacity, but evidence shows that not all binaural beats are created equal. Certain binaural beats, like 7-Hz, actually can reduce performance ability.
- 40-Hz binaural beats with no overlay (no rain sounds or additional tones) seem to be the best for improved verbal recall, memory, reaction time and overall ability to learn.
Didgeridoo Meditation (Click to hear)
- Some sounds native to down under also pass the test of boosting performance and enhancing relaxation.
- A study performed on college students found a didgeridoo meditation to be a successful intervention for reducing acute stress and restoring the ability to perform necessary tasks.
Hopefully, one of these will resonate with you (pun intended) and help you relax. Have a lovely day.
