Rhythmic Entrainment: The heartbeat of Surgical Serenity Solutions

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Have you ever had surgery? It’s not something that anyone ever looks forward to. Many people find out suddenly that they need surgery just days before the doctor recommends it. There’s not a lot of time to prepare. Even if you have heard that music before, during and after surgery is a good idea, you don’t really have time to put together a playlist of your favorite calming, soothing, comforting music.

My Story

This is what happened to me. My back and leg had been bothering me for almost 6 months and it was definitely getting worse. I had done several rounds of physical therapy but it wasn’t getting better. I was trying to walk a little each day and also had gone to a hot pool water therapy class but it just was not getting better!

One day, after X-rays and an MRI, my doctor said that I was probably going to need disc surgery because I had a bulging disc and my left calf was getting numb. It was a scary moment. He scheduled me about 3-4 weeks out so I had lots of time to think about it and maybe it would get better on it’s own?

Because I was already working at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, doing research on the healing power of music, I was aware that using music before, during, and after surgery, could do all kinds of wonderful things for the patient. But the information I was seeing about this phenomenon was about using music through speakers in the operating room. Some doctors were in favor of this but some wanted to play THEIR favorite music. Understandable.

The Big Misunderstanding

At that time (1995) I was learning about the concept of rhythmic entrainment and about how much affects the patient having surgery. I was beginning to put together how rhythmic entrainment would be working on a patients biorhythms even if they were under anesthesia. I remember bouncing this idea off of some of my music therapist friends at the University of Louisville in an effort to understand why music wasn’t played more often in surgery in order to help the patient reduce the amount of anesthesia, anxiety meds and pain meds and there was really no good answer, I didn’t think.

So a patient’s body responds to the pulse of the music even thought the patient is not consciously “listening” to the music.

I hope this all makes sense to you and that you find it interesting!!  Please let me know if you have more questions.

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Surgery Music Now Available for Download!

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We are so enthusiastic and excited about our Surgical Serenity Music, that we offer JUST the download if you feel that you cannot afford our lightweight, high-quality cordless headphone!  The download alone is only $99.  The headset with music already loaded onto it, is $197.97!

We believe that the Surgical Serenity Solution is slowly revolutionizing the way the surgery is being performed.  There are so many studies now, including a study on our own music and headphone (!) that there is absolutely NO doubt that music before, during and after surgery, can make a big difference in how fast and well the patient will recover.  Who knew that something as simple as choosing the right music for the patient could make such a powerful improvement to surgical outcomes??

Actually, I knew that back in the early 1990’s when I began reading the medical and music medicine literature.  It was quite obvious that, through the process of rhythmic entrainment, the patient’s heart-rate and breathing will begin to synchronize with the pulse of the music.  This relaxes the patient and keeps them relaxed through the procedure so that less medication is needed.  As a clinical musicologist, I know JUST the music to choose for the best results.  Right now the music is classical piano, but we are close to having a NEW AGE playlist, a children’s playlist, and one for elderly patients!

Don’t miss out on this!  You can download the music in minutes or order now for overnight delivery!  Just click on the picture of the headphones!

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The Magic of Rhythmic Entrainment

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Have you heard of rhythmic entrainment?   Most people have not, but it is at the heart of the Surgical Serenity Solution.  It may sound complicated and mysterious, but actually, it’s quite straightforward!  You know how you feel when you walk into a room and some really powerful, rhythmic music is playing?  Or you’re sitting in a concert and one of your favorite upbeat songs starts playing.  You cannot resist moving to that music!  It sucks you in and you’re happy when you start to move to it!  THAT is rhythmic entrainment.  It was so-named back in the 17th century when it was discovered in a lab by a Dutch scientist named Christian Huygens.

Huygens observed in his laboratory that metronomes set to ticking would eventually all be ticking together!  Rhythmic entrainment is so powerful that it happens with inanimate objects as well as with living beings, human and animal.  It is a VERY powerful phenomenon!

The human body tends to entrain with any powerful rhythm that is in their environment.  Even when that rhythm is erratic, as in an MRI machine, the body tries to find a pattern that makes sense with some.  The body easily entrains with a steady, strong beat.  That’s why music that has a stead 4/4 beat is so easy to march or clap to.  Classic rock is full of strong 4/4 tempos.  What does this have to do with the Surgical Serenity Solution?

The reason is that rhythmic entrainment works with a slow pulse as well as a fast one.  Again, whether the body is aleep or awake, the heart and breathing will tend to synchronize with a strong, steady pulse, entering the brain through the 8th cranial nerve.  The music comes through lightweight, cordless headphones and works like a charm.  So far, we’ve had people from all over the U.S., Canada and many European countries, Australia and New Zealand, order and successfully use the Surgical Serenity Solution!  Will you be next?

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What IS the Surgical Serenity Solution?

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You’ve probably just found out that you, or a loved one, needs to have have surgery.  No one WANTS to have surgery, but sometimes you just can’t get better without it.  You may have heard that using music during surgery can improve the outcomes; make the overall results better.  This is where the Surgical Serenity Solution comes in.  The Surgical Serenity Solution is a method for having the ideal slow, steady, soothing, purely instrumental music playing for the patient through cordless, lightweight headphones.  They were conceived of by a clinical musicologist, with years of experience helping surgical patients choose their ideal music.

Eight years later, hundreds of people have used our method and headphones for surgeries of all kinds, and with outstanding results.  Dozens of studies are out there, documenting music’s power to reduce, anxiety, amount of anesthesia needed, and pain perception afterwards.  Not only that, but when you have less anesthesia and less pain medication but also have less nausea and vomiting and you go home a lot sooner.

The Surgical Serenity Solution is gradually spreading around the country and the globe.  Get this solution for yourself!  You’ll be so glad you did.  Check out the patient testimonials here:  https://www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/testimonials/.

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More FAQs about the Surgical Serenity Solution

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We started selling our Surgical Serenity Solution in April of 2009.  From the moment we began letting the public know about our method for decreasing anxiety before surgery and thereby decreasing the need for as much anesthesia, people immediately “got it” and began ordering the pre-programmed headphones and proprietary music.

Certain questions come up over and over, so I thought I’d do a new post for you, outlining some of the basic questions that people want to know about the headphones.

1.  Are you sure the doctor will let me take these headphones into surgery?

99% of doctors let their patients take our headphones into surgery.  Our downloadable article on “Talking to you doctor about using music in surgery” goes a long way in allaying their fears.  Occasionally a doctor says that he’s worried about an electrical arc between cauterizing tools and the headphones, but anesthesiologists have assured us that it’s much more likely to occur with corded headphones than our cordless headphones.  They’ve now been used in hundreds of different surgeries and it’s never happened!  But you really do need to mention this in advance and not just bring them at the last minute.

2.  What’s the point of having music during my surgery if I’m asleep with general anesthesia?

Medical studies and patient case histories document that the patient “hears” and responds, even if subconsciously, to sound that go on in surgery.  Joint replacement surgery includes hammering, drilling, and sawing.  Those sounds and vibrations enter the patients body and subconscious, so having soothing, calm music entering your brain through the 8th cranial nerve is a huge plus.  In addition, the body rhythms of heart beat and breathing, entrain or synchronize to the pulse of the music, even if you’re under general anesthesia or in a coma.  This phenomenon of rhythmic entrainment is at the heart of the Surgical Serenity Solutions.

3.  Isn’t it better if I pick my own favorite music for my surgery?

If you are a professional musician, a music therapist, or a seasoned amateur, you probably could choose your own music.  But then, do you have access to a lightweight, behind the neck, cordless, programmable headset?  There is only one company that makes these headphones, and as I mentioned above, anything with a cord or wire is more prone to creating an electrical arc.

4.  I’ve heard that the surgeon will be playing his own favorite music.  Won’t that interfere?

That’s the beauty of the patient wearing headphones.  With the patients ears covered, the music is entering their brain through the 8th cranial nerve and greatly muffling the sounds of either surgeons’ music or staff conversations that the patient doesn’t need/want to hear.  Many surgeons still operate on the assumption that patient is “asleep” to their music and conversations, but case studies tell us frquently that patients do hear a disturbing amount.  A surgeon here in Louisville, KY was reported to be playing “Another One Bites the Dust” by QUEEN.  Do YOU want that to be playing during your surgery?

5.  My surgery is going to last for 5-6 hours.  Will the music last that long?

Our proprietary playlist is about 90 minutes long.  It is set to loop over and over on the headphones and the headphones have been know to play 18-20 hours on one battery charge.  So yes, a 5-6 hour surgery would not be a problem at all!

I hope that we’ve answered some of your most concerning questions.  If you have others, you can contact me through this blog and I will get back to you promptly!  Thank you for learning more about the Surgical Serenity Solutions!

best opening video

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Surgical Serenity Solutions: a few words about our music

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Surgical Serenity Solutions exists to create a surgical experience that is less stressful for the patient, speed recovery, and that will improve over-all outcomes!  That said, what exactly is our proprietary music all about?  Well, I’ll go so far as to say that they main idea is to get rhythmic entrainment established through the use of slow, steady, soothing, music.  As a concert pianist, musicologist, and therapist, I have chosen music that fits that definition, in a variety of genres.  Our first playlist is still our primary playlist and it is the one we’ve sold the most of.  It is a classical piano playlist and contains 23 lesser-known classical pieces that I purposely chose because of their ability to help the patient entrain, or synchronize their heart-rate, breathing, and emotional state, quickly and easily.

When patients put the headphones on for the first-time in my presence, they invariably get a smile on their face, close their eyes, and say “ahhhh…that’s beautiful!!”  I purposely chose music that is not well known, because people have such strong association with music, and, just in case it’s a piece that someone might have a negative association with, I chose music that the average piano student would not have encountered.

However, it is not at all necessary to love classical music or even be familiar with it, to greatly benefit from this playlist.  The only time you’ll really hear it is as you’re going to sleep (under general anesthesia) or as you’re waking up.  If you have access to the headphones or to our proprietary music (we do sell JUST the music!), before your procedure, then you can practice relaxing while listening to the music, and condition your mind and body to relax as you lie down and start the music.  By the time you’re ready for surgery, you will quickly relax by the end of the first piece.

Soon we will offer a New Age playlist, a jazz-style playlist, a folk-style playlist, and more.  Eventually, we’ll have multiple options within each genre!  There is literally no other company that offers such a powerful, yet simple  solution.  To buy, just click on the link www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/buy.

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Music and Surgery: Research on Benefits Continues to Emerge

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When you hear someone say that music before, during and after surgery is beneficial, you assume that its a certain type of music that has been specifically chosen for surgery, right?  After talking to people and working with patients and physicians and nurses about this for 25 years, I’ve heard it all!

It started out primarily with the surgeon deciding that he would be happier if HE had music playing in the OR, so he chose music that he felt would help him do a better job operating.  I’ve heard of surgeon’s choosing classical, rock and roll, smooth jazz, chant, and lots more.  This music usually is played through iPod speakers on a counter or shelf, or even through a boombox on the floor.

The thought was that the patient was either under general anesthesia and wouldn’t really hear it or they would be under regional anesthesia and would probably also enjoy it!  Pretty “iffy” I’d say, since taste in music varies wildly.  Then I came along in the late 90’s saying that even when patient was under general anesthesia, they could benefit from having their own slow, steady music, because of a process known as rhythmic entrainment.

The way this works is that our bodies respond to a nearby strong, steady beat by synchronizing with it, or entraining with it!  This is a well-documented phenomenon, first noticed in the 1700’s by a Dutch physicist named Daniel Huygens.  One of the things the anesthesiologist and staff do during surgery is to keep the heartbeat, breathing, blood pressure and body temperature at a resting, normal level.  This can be greatly helped along by tapping into rhythmic entrainment, utilizing music with a slow, steady beat and a soothing mood.

This is the music that we have already programmed onto your Surgical Serenity headphones to achieve the Surgical Serenity Solution!  A research study that came out just a couple of years ago reported that listening to music “during all three stages proved beneficial. Overall, patients who listened to music were less anxious, required less sedative medication, recovered more quickly and reported better satisfaction with their medical experience. But while some studies show that listening to classical music could yield the most positive results, the latest findings underscore the importance of taking into account patients’ musical tastes.” –

To that, I would add that when the patient is going under general anesthesia, probably classical music is best overall.  Our study here at the VA Hospital utilized exclusively classical music, and although most of the men were not classical music afficianados, once they had been explained why this specific music was chosen, they were happy to give it a chance…and experienced all the benefits listed above!!

The comment below was from a blog that was citing this study above, done at the University of Kentucky by music therapists.  However, it is not necessary to have a music therapist present to use our pre-programmed surgical headphones!  That’s one of the money-saving benefits to hospital and patient.

I will write lots more about this in future blog posts but do let me know your thoughts and your questions!  Thank you!

See more at: http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2012/11/20/how-music-therapy-may-benefit-surgery-patients/#comments

June Pegram Says:

I had a full hysterectomy in 2005 at Stanford and my physician provided me with a cd to listen to in preparation for the surgery. The premise was to listen to the cd an follow the exercises provided along with the music. Having the music, prepared me in ways that I never would have dreamed- it actually changed my life, even to this day. There was no pre-op nervousness and before I knew it, I was in my recovery room still listening to the music. What a peaceful and relaxing way to enter something normally so stressful. My recovery was just as wonderful and I listened to the cd every night during recovery. Years later I find myself humming a few bars of the relaxation song to calm me down when I am tense. The cd has since been lost to me during several moves, but I truly wish I still had it. Music is very beneficial to the psyche and physical attributes towards preparation and healing and I will use it from now on…

– See more at: http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2012/11/20/how-music-therapy-may-benefit-surgery-patients/#comments

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Entrainment vs. Entertainment

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People often ask me, when they first see the word “entrainment” if I meant “entertainment.”  We all know what entertainment is, and because I am a performing musician, people assume that I have misspelled the word entertainment, but no, entrainment is very, very different!

Think of a time when you went to a concert of any kind and when the music started, the rhythmic nature of it made you start clapping, tapping or moving your whole body in synch with the rhythm!  That’s entrainment!  The phenomenon of entrainment was named in

In the Journal “Cortex” this was written as the abstract of an article on entrainment:

Wherever human beings live, and however they may organize their affairs, they gather

from time to time to sing and dance together, often in a ritual setting. In doing so they

synchronize their voices and bodily movements to a shared, repeating interval of time, the

musical pulse, beat or tactus.  We take this capacity to “entrain” to an evenly paced stimulus.

(isochrony) so much for granted that it may come as a surprise to learn that from

a biological point of view such behavior is exceptional. But it is not altogether unique.

 So how does this apply to surgery?  One of the reasons that music is so powerful during surgery is that the pulse of the music entrains your heartbeat and breathing, even when you’re under general anesthesia.  Many people believe that when you’re under anesthesia you can’t actually “hear” the music.  That’s where the difference between entertainment and  entrainment comes in.

The idea began to take shape in my mind that some people in comas had been observed for years, tapping a toe or foot or finger, in rhythm with music being played or sung in the room.  Some people would awaken from lengthy comas, reporting that they ha indeed heard and appreciated music that was played or sung to them while in a coma.

After researching similar phenomena during surgery, I found that hundreds of people each year awaken from general anesthesia saying that they heard not only conversations during their surgery, but also music that was being played through speakers.  They also heard, during certain surgeries, the sound of drills, hammers and saws!!  This is when I began wondering if music that would start the entrainment process, played through super-lightweight headphones, might not be a wonderful thing.

Today, our Surgical Serenity Solution consists of just that.  After researching the very best music for entrainment, I have come up with a playlist that is soothing, comforting, and starts the entrainment process.  If you are having surgery in the near future, please consider getting yourself some!

 

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How Does Music Reach the Brain during Surgery

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  When patients have surgery today, music CAN come to them in one of several different ways.  Sometimes there is ambient music in the operating room.  Oftentimes, the surgeon has speakers set up that are playing HIS or HER favorite music.  That’s great for the surgeon, but the music that the surgeon needs is often the opposite from what the patient needs. The surgeon wants rhythmic, upbeat music that will keep his energy up and his focus sharp!  The patient needs music that is slow, soothing and steady.  Even under general anesthesia, the heart and breathing will entrain or synchronize with the pulse of the music. 

When the patient listens to music of this type, he can have all the benefits of less anesthesia, less anxiety medication and less pain medication.  The less medication and anesthesia that the patient requires, the faster and safer the recovery will be.  When the patient listens through headphones, the surgeon’s music is blocked, or at least muffled greatly.  Also, conversations in the OR that the patient doesn’t need to hear will be blocked.  Patients often report that they heard conversations between nurses and doctors that were upsetting in one way or another.

A third choice in some hospitals is actual live music, administered by a music therapist.  I think this would be fantastic because clearly the music would be geared toward the patient.  I’m not sure how practical this is in a large busy hospital where the 20 operating rooms are busy all day long.  MY choice would be the headphones and the only place that carries them right now is www.SurgicalHeadphones.com.  Check them out and let me know what you think.  They can be used for years after the surgery and you can add more music or delete any and all of it and create your own playlist.  Not only that, but you can download the music from the website onto your own iPod or MP3 player.  Pretty cool!!

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Going Under the Knife: are you afraid of anesthesia?

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CystoscopySSSPeople tell me on a regular basis that they have a tremendous fear of going under anesthesia, especially general anesthesia.  Today, general anesthesia is a very safe process, if you have no complications, are in generally good health, and have no history of problems with anesthesia.

There are many exceptions to the above-mentioned situations though.  What if you have cancer and have been taking chemotherapy and have a suppressed immune system?  What if you are elderly and frail with a heart condition or other pre-existing conditions?  What if you have lots of allergies and a family history of problems with anesthesia.  Of course, there is not an easy answer here.  Each case must be judged on its own merits and you must talk very carefully with your doctors and your family.  However, in some cases, you just need to have surgery and you really need to have general anesthesia.

In this case I would strongly recommend that you consider using music before, during and after the procedure.  Music is a very well-documented and effective adjunct to anesthesia.  Slow, steady, soothing music entrains or synchronizes with your heartbeat and breathing to keep you calm and relaxed before they take you back, during the surgery, and throughout your time in the recovery room.

In addition, many surgeons today play their own favorite music in the OR and often it is upbeat, fast and even syncopated music.  This is thought not to affect the patient, and yet patients come to me after their surgery and tell me they heard conversations and loud music that they did not like!  For this reason, I recommend that the patient listen to their own favorite music through lightweight, cordless headphones that have the most appropriate music already programmed onto them.

If you have the time and know far enough in advance, you can create your own playlist and bring your own iPod or other MP3 player in.  OR, you can get some from www.surgicalheadphones.com.  They are being used around the world already and research studies are in progress to prove their effectiveness in reducing the amounts of medication you will need.  Best wishes as you go through this process and let me know how it goes!

Listening to soothing music before, during and after surgery can reduce the amount of anesthesia and pain medication you require

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