 Studies show that drumming and rhythm promotes health and wellbeing.
Drumming supports: Anxiety release, Emotional release, Physical
toning, Community support, Spiritual growth, Creativity, Personal
empowerment.
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Group Drumming Boosts Cancer-Killer Cells in Study
Researchers Take Promising First Step Down Road to Potential New Therapies
CARLSBAD, Calif.—A groundbreaking study due to be published in the January 2001 issue of Alternative Therapies links a specific type of group drum playing, known as Composite drumming, with an increase in Natural Killer (NK) cell activity, one of the mechanisms through which the body combats cancer and viral illnesses. These findings reinforce the theory of a mind-body connection that influences the immune system, and may point the way to reversing the “Classic Stress Response” which depresses immune system function.
Led by Barry Bittman, MD, the research team tested a variety of different group drumming protocols and non-drumming control groups made up of healthy adults at the Meadville, PA-based Mind-Body Wellness Center. In their findings, titled Composite Effects of Group Drumming Music Therapy on Modulation of Neuroendocrine-Immune Parameters in Normal Subjects, they found that one group drumming method in particular correlated with increases in NK cell activity, Lymphokine-Activated Killer (LAK) cell activity and chemical changes that together signal a strengthening of the body’s natural immune response and a direct connection between the external senses and the natural immune system.
“These results appear to point the way to a very exciting avenue of future research,” Bittman says. “This is the first major controlled scientific investigation of the effect of this specific music-making protocol on activities of specific immune system cells that seek out and destroy cancer cells and virally-infected cells.”“The beauty of drumming as opposed to other activities is that you can take it anywhere, teach it in only a few minutes and offer it to groups of ill and well people alike,” Bittman adds. “Composite drumming enables people to enjoy myriad psychological and physical benefits. While immersed in this form of music making, their tension is rapidly transformed into a joyful, moving and enlivening experience. I believe group drumming should become an integral component of whole person care.”
In modern cancer research, an important goal is to identify therapies that stimulate “cell-mediated” immune responses. This group drumming study appeared to stimulate just such a response: in the group drumming protocol tested by the Bittman team, test subjects showed significant increases in NK cell activity and LAK cell activity, compared to unchanged levels or even actual declines in control subjects. This represents a reversal of the so-called Classic Stress Response, in which stressful activities depress immune function, and suggests that drumming might be a beneficial “stress-buster,” analogous to laughter.
The study also found that the participating drummers improved their ratios of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) to cortisol, a condition beneficial to immune system function, and found similar increases in NK cell activity stimulated by interleukin-2 and interferon-gamma, two examples of substances called “cytokines” that help drive the immune system.
In their research, the study team examined four types of one-hour group drumming sessions: Basic, in which an instructor spent half the time discussing drumming and half the time leading the group in the actual activity; Impact, in which the same drumming technique was used but actual drumming was increased to 80 percent of the time; Shamanic, in which a Mayan shaman led the group and punctuated the drumming with a presentation of spiritual and cultural elements; and Composite.
It was the Composite method that showed the strongest results in preliminary testing and formed the basis for the final experiment. Subjects began their session by passing hand to hand hollow, bead-filled “shaker eggs” around a circle, faster and faster until inevitably they would drop to the floor. The levity that this produced was followed with an activity in which participants played their drums in rhythm with the syllables of their own names. After periods in which all participants drummed together varying tempo and rhythm, they spent a half-hour drumming along with 2 “guided imagery” themes.
As a check, participants in all the experimental and control groups were asked to attend the sessions at the same time of day and on the same day of the week, and were asked to refrain from alcohol, drug use, sex and other behaviors that might influence their body chemistry. People who played the drums in their everyday lives were excluded, and two psychological tests, the Beck Anxiety Scale and the Beck Depression Scale II, were administered before and after the sessions to eliminate the subjects’ state of mind as a potential wildcard. Control groups listened to drumming music rather than playing, which further helped isolate active drumming as the proposed factor in the team’s findings.
Bittman cautions against oversimplification or exaggeration of the study results. “If someone asked me right now, ‘Is this treatment valuable for cancer patients?’ I would say we have only the first step to say there’s promise, and we need more research,” he says.
“Future investigations will study the effects of group drumming on subjects who already have cancer and other diseases. We also need to determine how long the beneficial changes last and the frequency of sessions required to maintain the benefits. Ultimately we will explore the applicability of the therapy outside a controlled clinical environment,” Bittman explains.
Bittman is the CEO of Meadville Medical Center’s Mind-Body Wellness Center, located in Meadville, PA, an outpatient healthcare facility dedicated to exploring and applying integrative programs that supplement traditional medical care by harnessing people’s inner healing resources and enlisting them as active members of their own health care teams. Bittman also serves as the CEO of ECaP (Exceptional Cancer Patients), hosts a National Public Radio program, Mind-Body Matters, and is the author of the book, Reprogramming Pain and co-author with Anthony DeFail of Maze of Life.
AMC, founded in 1947 and based in Carlsbad, California, is dedicated to promoting music, music making and music education to the general public, and supports a variety of programs highlighting music’s benefits for Americans of all ages.
The study was funded by Remo, a worldwide leader in drum manufacturing founded in 1957 and based in Valencia, CA. Based in part on Bittman’s findings, Remo has founded HealthRhythmsTM, a new division devoted to drumming as a means of promoting health and well-being.
Healing: To the Beat of an Inner Drummer
By Barry Bittman, M.D.
“I think I’ve had enough,” he replied in a calm yet somber tone, as our heads seemed to drop in unison. “Nothing seems to be working. After 6 surgeries in less than a year, I don’t think I’ll let them operate again to send chemotherapy directly to my brain.” He hadn’t said much previously. Tears streamed down his mother’s face. I wasn’t about to argue the point just expressed by a young man who turned 22 during our Insights for Living Beyond Cancer retreat. Our group didn’t counter either. Cancer survivors and support persons alike, they collectively traveled thousands of miles to join us, yet no one was about to challenge him to go another step. In our hearts, each one of us felt that perhaps we would not have mustered the courage to have gone that far. Everyone was especially touched by his willingness to share what for most of us is the unthinkable until the time is right and our last ounce of energy is spent. Knowing that such crossroads could appear any time in our future, we respected his melancholy decision to finally give in. Yet in my heart I hoped something would change. For I sensed more than just a resignation to let nature take its course. His tone echoed the painful agony of failure that somehow seemed inconsistent with his extraordinary will to survive. After all, not only did he triumph over the challenges of several surgeries and months of rehabilitation and physical therapy, he actually learned to walk independently again after facing a seemingly insurmountable bout of paralysis. His dedication and drive must have been furious. At least he got it off his chest, I thought. Perhaps he opened a door. Rather than guiding him in one direction or another, something inside told me to let him discover his own way. For even in the darkest moments, a flicker hope exists. I knew real magic surfaced several times each day in the group. Sometimes it was just a smile that seemed to break down the boundaries of despair. At others it happened when a couple held hands or expressed feelings of love for each other during a counseling session. Often it surfaced with tears that flowed abundantly in the sorrow of the moment or in the joy of revelation. That evening it happened in another way. When that special moment presented itself, a part of me recognized it immediately. It happened during a music making session. All I had to do was turn our drum circle over to him. It was simply meant to be. For when his hands touched the drum, there was a special beat, an unrelenting expression of celebration and a commanding presence that surprised all of us. It was as if he was the perfect conduit, the ultimate instrument upon which the rhythm of life was destined to flow. His musical expression was so deep—it had survived what no scalpel could ever reach. Everyone immediately saw and heard the Light. With infectious energy, his intense beat kindled our will to survive, to flourish and to express ourselves despite any obstacle that could ever appear in our path. We played with intensity and joy as a sense of camaraderie literally joined us together as one. And we drummed beyond our limits, beyond our fatigue, beyond our limitations. That night I slept more soundly than I had in months. The following morning I felt renewed as if every ounce of tension had been erased and before me was a fresh slate upon which a new day would be written. As I gazed upon the sunlight streaking through the canopy of trees that separated us from the mountain, his mother’s words began to fill that slate as she spoke excitedly, “Dr. Bittman, did you see my son this morning? He awoke without a complaint and is walking better than he has in months. He seems different!” And he was(there was a bounce in his step, he was more positive, far more interactive and he wore a smile of certainty that touched and changed all of us. I’ll never forget his words that morning when I asked each participant to tell us what they would do with the last 5 minutes of their lives. He was the last to respond. “I will continue to learn,” he said in a deliberate tone that resounded with clarity of purpose and a zest for living beyond cancer. Our tears flowed abundantly. He simply smiled with a knowing that was ever-present. As our ECaP retreat came to a close, and each person parted on an individual healing path, I felt closer to all of them(especially the young drummer who taught me so much about life, courage and the power of music. Yet somehow I wished I knew more about him. My prayer was answered with a note from his mother a few days later. She wrote, “When we got off the plane on Sunday, he announced to his step dad that he is a new person. I guess we both are.” A spinal tap performed shortly after the retreat showed for the first time that his new chemotherapy was working. While one cannot clearly explain the rationale for his improvement, I know something extraordinary happened in our midst. Deep within the essence of who I am, a part of me healed through the beat of this drummer. His rhythm and his smile are forever etched within my being. For whenever extraordinary courage is needed to take a seemingly insurmountable step, I’m confident his rhythm will guide my way(Mind Over Matter! Great appreciation is extended to Ted Leslie and his mother, Naomi Haugen for sharing a remarkable survival lesson with all of us.
Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, Barry Bittman, M.D. All rights reserved.
Composite Effects of Group Drumming Music Therapyon Modulation of Neuroendocrine-Immune Parameters in Normal Subjects
Barry B. Bittman, MD
Mind-Body Wellness Center, 18201 Conneaut Lake Road, Meadville, PA 16335 Lee S. Berk, DrPH, MPH
Center for Neuroimmunology, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University, 11021 Campus Street, Room 318, , Loma Linda, CA 92350
David L. Felten, MD, PhD
Center for Neuroimmunology, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University, 11021 Campus Street, Room 327, , Loma Linda, CA 92350
James Westengard, BSDepartment of Pathology, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA 92350 O. Carl Simonton, MD
29803 Baden Place, Malibu, CA 90265
ABSTRACT:
Context: Drum circles have been part of healing rituals in many cultures throughout the world since antiquity. Despite the fact that drum circles are gaining increased interest as a complementary therapeutic strategy in the traditional medical arena, limited scientific data documenting biological benefits associated with percussion activities exists. We therefore set forth to determine measurable biological effects associated with a group percussion activity utilizing a controlled experimental design in normal subjects.Objective: to determine the role of group drumming music therapy as a composite activity with potential for alteration of stress-related hormones and enhancement of specific immunologic measures associated with NK cell activity and cell-mediated immunity.Design: a single trial experimental intervention with control groups.Subjects: A total of 111 normal age and sex matched volunteer subjects (55 males and 56 females with a mean age of 30.4 years) were recruited.Intervention: Six preliminary supervised groups (61 subjects randomly assigned to groups of 9-11 individuals each) were studied utilizing various control and experimental paradigms designed to separate drumming components for the ultimate determination of a single experimental model. These included 2 control groups (resting and listening) as well as 4 group drumming experimental models ( basic, impact, shamanic and composite). The composite drumming group utilizing a music therapy protocol was ultimately selected based upon preliminary statistical analysis (tests of proportions using the binomial test) which demonstrated immune modulation in a direction opposite to that expected with the classical stress response. The final experimental design (60 subjects) included the original composite drumming group (10 individuals) plus 50 additional age and sex matched volunteer subjects (31 males and 29 females with a mean age of 29.2 years) who were randomly assigned to participate in group drumming (10 age and sex matched subjects each) or control sessions (10 age and sex matched subjects sitting in a similar setting and reading newspapers or magazines for 1 hr.).
Main Outcome Measures: pre and post-intervention measurements of plasma cortisol, plasma dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), plasma DHEA:cortisol ratio, natural killer (NK) cell activity, lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cell activity, plasma interleukin-2 (IL-2), plasma interferon-gamma (IFN-g), the Beck Anxiety Scale and the Beck Depression Scale II.
Results: Group drumming resulted in increased DHEA:cortisol ratios, increased NK cell activity and increased LAK cell activity without alteration in plasma IL-2 or IFN-g, or in the Beck Anxiety and Beck Depression II Scales. This study is the first known group drumming intervention that demonstrates short-term immunoenhancing neuroendocrine and immunologic alterations in normal subjects.Conclusions: Drumming is a complex composite intervention with the potential to modulate specific neuroendocrine and neuroimmune parameters in a direction opposite of that expected with the classic stress response.
Key Words: Music therapy; neuroimmunology; complementary medicine; stress; natural killer cell activity; DHEA:cortisol ratio, neuroendocrine; psychoneuroimmunology; lymphokine-activated killer cell activity.
Here are a few links:
Study: Group Drumming Boosts Cancer-Killer Cells
Drum Therapy
How they beat stress
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