Mozart and Premature Babies
Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 7:46AM
Listening to the music of the master seems to help the babies grow. Exposing the infants to 30 minutes of Mozart's music daily appears to calm them, report researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel. This is good news, because the less agitated the preemies are, the less energy they'll expend and the faster they’ll gain weight - that boosts their immunity to infections and other illnesses and enables them to go home from the hospital. The researchers measured the physiological effects of the music on the babies and compared the "after Mozart" results with earlier measurements. Why Mozart? The Israeli researchers suggest that unlike the compositions of Beethoven or Bach, Mozart's music has a melody that is highly repetitive, perhaps similar to the rhythm of the heartbeat they would hear in the womb, which the investigators speculated may affect the organizational centers in the babies' brains. The Israeli study is part of an international effort to determine what environmental effects promote the health and survival of susceptible infants. Next, the Israeli team plans to expose premature infants to other types of music to see what evokes a similar response. One of them suggested "rap" as a type of music that is also highly repetitive. What would Mozart think of that?
Reader Comments (5)
Interesting - do you have a link to the original study? These kinds of learnings are very valuable to various NICU care teams (inclusive of parents, neonatologists, nursing staff, etc.).
Thanks for sharing!
"Health is wealth" is known to all and everyone wants good health. That means no one wants to leave this wealth. So, Let us build a food habit discipline, keep pace with work, rest and or exercise to Achieve good health, The ultimate wealth.
Why just premies? My three week old grandson "listens" to classical music most of the time. It soothes him and creates a calm environment. I've always felt that classical music with a beat and melody helps the brain create neural patterns.
ScottyJ
http://www.livescience.com/health/mozart-effect-premature-babies-100113.html
and the January issue the journal Pediatrics.
ScottyJ, here's a link to the full text in Pediatrics, if you're still interested:
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/125/1/e24
Regarding one research group member's suggestion that they try rap music too, I fear it would make the NICU staff antsy, if not the preemies themselves.