Brain Music: Treat Depression, Anxiety, and Insomnia

At least 60 million Americans suffer from insomnia. Sleeping aids are a growing pharmaceutical business. Millions more are struggling with anxiety, stress, and depression and turning to pharmaceuticals for help with these problems as well. Could the answer lie in a mathematical algorithm?

A large team of researchers, clinicians, mathematicians and musicians, led by Dr. Iakov Levine, have found a way to translate brain waves into music digitally with this algorithm. Using this computerized formula, researchers can use your brain waves to create a set of music to "activate" or to "relax" your brain. When you play the "relaxing" music on your brain CD, your brain tells your body it is time to relax. And when you cue up the "active" portion of the CD, your brain and your body are more alert.

And now this treatment is being used world wide to treat depression, anxiety and insomnia. Using music to treat insomnia or anxiety isn't really new. Music has always been used to "soothe the savage breast." And researchers at the University of Toronto came up with the idea of individually tailored brain music. They created music that was uniquely suited or matched to a person's brain waves. That music, when played, would cause that person's anxiety levels to drop. They were then able to relax and sleep.

But actually recording a person's brain waves, and turning them into music is a new, cutting-edge technology. A private practitioner in New York City, Dr. Galina Mindlin, brought this treatment to the United States from Moscow, and holds exclusive rights for now in the United States. She says of this treatment, "Just as the brain is capable of recognizing sound, like a mom's voice, or a child's voice, it is capable of recognizing its own brain wave pattern, which is expressed in sounds." Using an EEG to record the pattern of patients' brain waves, a computer program then converts them into musical sounds.

The effect is that of soothing piano music that you might hear as background music at a fine dining restaurant. Or the type of music played during a massage at a spa, or the music billed as "relaxing" instrumental music, or simply called "New Age instrumental" a few years ago. I suppose there really is no way to know that the music you hear is or is not coming from your brain waves. Humans' brains share certain similarities, even in the uniqueness, so I would imagine the music would sound very similar as well.

This method of healing has its success stories. Patients come to Dr. Mindlin's office for a five minute recording of their brain waves. Two or three weeks and about $500 later, they receive a CD with two tracks of music. One track is their brain's active pattern to boost energy; and the other is the healing track for relaxation. Some patients are reporting that this treatment is more effective than other things they have tried for reducing their depression, anxiety, and restless sleep or insomnia.

Very little follow-up study has been done so far to validate the success of brain music therapy. And some practitioners say they don't feel this treatment is much different than old-fashioned relaxation therapy, with or without music. However, a large portion of the 600 patients that Dr. Mindlin's office has worked with report a much higher degree of success with the personalized brain music over conventional relaxing music.

Dr. Mindlin envisions this type of personalized brain music benefiting people suffering from migraines; mood disorders; stress related illnesses; drug withdrawal; attention deficit disorder; and performance and social anxiety. She also feels it could be invaluable to persons who are not able to follow their own sleep/wake cycle, such as truck drivers, shift workers, casino employees, etc. Reportedly, this brain music therapy is also of interests to sports teams and athletes to enhance performance.

Imagine having your very own brain music on your Ipod! At $500 and a trip to New York for the CD, I am going to have to rely on conventional relaxing music for awhile. But this could very well be the music of the future.