Research - Drumming

Published Research on Drumming

Drumming reduces stress, tension, and anxiety. Blood samples from participants of an hour-long drumming session revealed a reversal of the hormonal stress response and an increase in natural killer cell activity. (Bittman, Berk, Felten, Westengard, Simonton, Pappas, Ninehouser, 2001, Alternative Therapies, vol. 7, no. 1).

Drumming provides for natural pain control. Drumming promoted the production of endorphins and endogenous opiates, the bodies own morphine-like painkillers, allowing for alleviation from pain and grief. (Winkelman, Michael, Shamanism: the Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing).

Drumming fights depression Stanford University School of Medicine conducted a study with 30 depressed people over 80 years of age and found that participants in a weekly music therapy group were less anxious, less distressed and had higher self-esteem (Friedman, Healing Power of the Drum, 1994).

Drumming stimulates the entire brain Drumming integrates the frontal and lower areas of the brain, allowing nonverbal information form the lower brain into the frontal cortex. “This produces feelings of insight, understanding, integration, certainty, conviction, and truth.” ((Winkelman, Michael, Shamanism: the Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing).