No one wants to have surgery.  But some people are so terrified of “going under the knife” and “having general anesthesia,” that they put off needed surgery because of this fear.  The good news is, today there are so many resources with accurate and easy-to-understand information that people can get much-needed and reassuring information about what goes on during the procedure they need.

One of the many things that people can do is to use music before, during and after the procedure.  Using your favorite soothing, comforting music before surgery can calm you down and begin to relax your body so that it takes less anesthesia to put you to sleep.  If you’re particularly sensitive to anesthesia this is really an excellent idea!  If you’re able to put different music on your iPod, the music for surgery should ideally be purely instrumental and have a steady tempo, close to the tempo of the healthy resting heartbeat.  Choose your favorite genre and practice listening to it and relaxing before your surgery.

For the recovery room, chose something that is just slightly more upbeat, but still gentle.  When you’re listening through headphones, you will not only be putting this soothing music directly into your brain through the 8th cranial nerve.  This also blocks out operating room sounds that can be quite disconcerting.  Especially if you happen to be having joint  replacement surgery, you can hear hammering, drilling and even sawing!  Having soothing music in your ear, through headphones can be a real blessing!

Don’t have the time or the knowledge to create a playlist for surgery?  You’re in luck!  I’ve already done it for you.  Just go to www.SurgicalHeadphones.com and you can purchase either the cordless, pre-programmed headphones, or you can just purchase the download for your own MP3 device or iPod.  Let me know if you have questions!