Can Listening To Music Help You To Lose Weight?

Music has long been associated with healing of the body, mind and spirit. According to Alfred Tomatis, French physician and father of music therapy, music is energy food for the brain as well as an instrument for healing.  

Dr. Tomatis believed that music influences us in very powerful ways.  If you are skeptical, just do this simple test:  Play your favorite music, and notice how your mood changes.  Notice how you are feeling physically and mentally.  You may be aware that your body wants to move, that your step becomes lighter, and that you have more energy.  Your mind may be more relaxed and alert at the same time.  Conversely, think about how you feel when you are subjected to music that doesn't resonate with you.  

Successful weight loss requires making lifestyle changes that serve to enhance our overall health and well-being.  Listening to "personalized" musical selections at strategic times during the day, can make this challenge much easier.

How many times have you reached for something to eat even when you weren't hungry?  Doreen Virtue, Clinical psychologist and  author of "Losing Your Pounds of Pain", believes that most emotional eating stems from these four feelings;  fear, anxiety, tension and shame.   The next time you get the urge to eat when you are not hungry, allow this urge to become a "feelings awareness" signal - your body's way of telling you that you have some feelings that need attention.  

Often, we unconsciously attempt to numb our feelings with food.  If this is something that you find yourself doing, try asking yourself instead, what am I feeling right now?  Once you begin the habit of identifying and attending to your "trigger" feelings, you will find that your desire to eat when you are not hungry will diminish.  Identifying and expressing one's feelings can sometimes be challenging.  Enlisting the help of a supportive counselor or coach can be very beneficial, helping you to move quickly in the direction of health, increased energy and happiness.  

Once you have identified how you are feeling, you can use music to help you to express it, and then to help you move into a new feeling place.  Using "cleansing" musical selections is helpful when you want to move through feelings of anger, frustration, grief, and aggression.  Music allows us to express these emotions immediately, safely and privately.  Cleansing music should be used just long enough to clear the emotion.  Some like to play cleansing music at a louder volume and sing (or yell) loudly along.  Moving your body in any way that feels right is also a wonderful way to release intense emotion, and, it has the added benefit of burning calories and releasing mood-enhancing endorphins!  After a cleansing session, it is important to nourish yourself with some relaxing music followed by an uplifting selection.  

Elizabeth Miles, author of  "Tune Your Brain, Using Music to Manage Your Mind, Body and Mood", suggests the following cleansing & uplifting musical selections.  In addition, you may want to choose your own to experiment with.   

Cleansing:

•    Robert Johnson:  "The Complete Recordings".

•    Late Beatles

•    Jimi Hendrix:  "Are You Experienced"?

•    B.B. King.  "A Classic Revisited: Lie at the Regal".

•    Flamenco:  "Fire & Grace"

•    Kate Bush.  "Dreaming".

Uplifting:

•    Gloria Gaynor.  "Greatest Hits".

•    Diana Ross & the Supremes.  "Every Great #1 Hit".

•    The Eagles.  "Greatest Hits".

•    Bob Marley & the Wailers.  "Legend".

•    Alabama.  "Greatest Hits".

•    Mahalia Jackson.  "Amazing Grace".

•    Leonard Bernstein.  "On the Town".

Are you part of the speed eaters club?  In today's fast-paced culture, it is easy to get into this habit.  Speed eating makes it very easy for us to gain weight, because our brains don't have time to tell our bodies we are full until we have eaten way too much.   Using relaxing music before you sit down for your meal, will slow you down and cause you to eat at a slower pace.  Once you do sit down for your meal, take a couple of minutes to focus on the music before you begin your meal.  Pause between bites to listen to your relaxing musical selection.  Most likely, you will end up eating less and enjoying your meals more.  You will also be more likely to notice when you are full and satisfied.

One of my clients shared with me that she often eats when she is watching T.V. at night.  We discovered that it was a way for her to relieve tension, because the programming that she was choosing was anxiety provoking.  (She was watching mostly crime shows).  I suggested that she begin to use inspiring, uplifting and relaxing musical selections in the evening as an alternative to the adrenaline pumping T.V. shows.  This helped to eliminate her desire to eat in the evenings.  In addition, this client was able to sleep better at night.

Below are examples of relaxing musical selections, however you may want to explore to find the selections that most resonate with you.  Often you can test out potential recordings in stores before you buy them.

   "Relaxing with the Miles Davis Quartet" - Miles Davis Quartet
   "Chant" - Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo
   "Watermark" - Enya
   Choose any 2nd movement of your favorite symphony.

While music is not a magic bullet for weight loss, it is an effective and wonderful tool for supporting the process.  So start listening to your favorite tunes today, and begin experiencing the many healing benefits of music!   

Deborah White, RN MS HNC
Board Certified Holistic Nurse and Coach
May, 2005