11 Health Benefits of Drumming

Has your doctor told you that you need to lose weight? Has the Body Mass Index given you the blues? Have you felt your mental focus begin to decrease with age? Well, the unconventional therapy of drumming may be the cure that your doctor overlooked.

Perhaps you need to increase your heart rate daily while sweating off a few pounds. Maybe you need to distract your mind from chronic pain or depression. If you feel like you’ve tried everything and nothing has helped, this article is written for you. Try drumming.

What is Cardio Drumming?

Cardio Drumming is a new craze that creates a full-body cardio workout out of physical movements that emulate drumming. The exercise is commonly held in a class setting and it uses weighted drumsticks to provide added resistance to physical movements.

Expert trainers contend that cardio drumming can burn as many as 900 calories during one 45-minute workout. During each class, participants go through approximately 15,000 reps. The technique proves that drumming can be a good exercise if played at a vigorous intensity for a prolonged period.

Reasons to Start Drumming

Drumming is a physical activity and when performed aggressively, it can yield many cardiovascular benefits similar to riding a stationary bicycle or walking on a treadmill. As a result, drumming can have positive effects on your health and may help with many conditions from stress, fatigue, and anxiety, to hypertension, asthma, chronic pain, arthritis, mental illness, addiction, and even cancer.

Here are a few healthy reasons why you should start drumming today:

  1. Drumming makes you happy. If you’ve never participated in a drumming circle or group drumming class, you’re missing out on a unifying social experience that promotes togetherness and coordination. Try a cardio drumming class and see how it energizes you. Drumming releases endorphins, enkephalins and Alpha waves in the brain that are associated with general feelings of well-being and euphoria.
  2. Drumming encourages deep relaxation. In a recent medical studyblood samples were examined from participants who participated in an hour-long cardio drumming class. The study demonstrated a reversal in the stress hormones of participants.
  3. Drumming helps with pain management. When your physician prescribes a pain management regiment, an important criterion is a distraction from the pain source. Drumming can serve as a distraction from pain. Drumming also promotes the production of endorphins and endogenous opiates, which are the body’s own morphine-like painkillers.
  4. Drumming strengthens your immune system. Studies show that drumming activities, such as cardio drumming, boost the immune system. Barry Bittman, MD, neurologist and President of the Yamaha Music & Wellness Institute, has shown that group drumming actually increases natural T-cells, which help the body combat cancer as well as other viruses, including AIDS. With a focus on the aging continuum, Dr. Bittman led a team of researchers to document the impact of Recreational Music-making in the long-term care continuum.
  5. Drumming creates a sense of connectedness. Drumming circles and group drumming classes create a sense of social connectivity that encourages you to connect with your inner spirit while at the same time also connecting with other like-minded people.
  6. Drumming positions your body and mind in alignment with the natural world. The Greek origin of the word “rhythm” means “to flow.” Drumming encourages you to flow within the rhythms of music and naturally translates into the flow of life by your increased ability to feel the rhythm in everything you encounter.
  7. Drumming gives you access to a higher power. Drumming can be used as a means to integrate mind, body, and spirit. The physical nature of drumming focuses on the whole body, but drumming mastery demands that you integrate both the physical and spiritual forces.
  8. Drumming releases negative feelings. The act of drumming is a form of self-expression. It is creativity at its best. It’s nearly impossible to feel depressed when exploring your creativity on a drum kit. You can literally drum out your feelings. Negative emotions can form energy blockages. The physical stimulation of playing the drums can help remove those blockages.
  9. Drumming increases alertness. While drumming you naturally drive your mental state from passive to active. The physical coordination required in drumming demands an increased level of mental focus that produces many mental health benefits. Physical motion in rhythmic patterns encourages heightened brain activity.
  10. Drumming demands personal transformation. Drumming stimulates creative expression. In fact, successful drumming requires it. When you drum in a group, you not only get to self-express, but you get to unify and connect with like-minded spirits that naturally push your creativity and increase your natural energy.  It’s therapy for the soul! Drumming provides a means to explore your inner self and enlarge your consciousness while being part of a larger community.
  11. Drumming awakens your spirit. Drumming forces us to look into our creative mirror and see our souls. At the start, we may not like what we see simply because we have not learned to express our feelings in a musical way. However, with time, commitment, and persistence, we naturally begin to see ourselves differently. We begin to acknowledge our creative side that we may not have considered before. Naturally, the more we explore, the better we become.

Conclusion

Let’s be honest. From the moment our hearts begin beating in our mother’s womb, the rhythm becomes a part of our spiritual and natural existence. If you are experiencing health challenges, it may be a good idea to explore drumming as a method of therapy that can help to heal your mind, body, and soul.

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