Surprising Benefits Of Listening To Music During Pregnancy

An upbeat song has the power to lift your spirits and transfer your mood from dull to excited and energetic. A mellow song can help you unwind while a motivating song can push your workout at the gym. Music is not just fun but it also comes with a lot of benefits. One such is listening to music while you are pregnant. This can be beneficial not just for you, but for your unborn baby as well!

An unborn baby can hear the sounds of fluid in the womb and the pulsing of the mother’s heart. By the second trimester, the baby can also hear external sounds such as the mother’s voice, music, and other loud noises. Music can play an important role in your child’s healthy growth and development, even before birth. So crank up your favourite relaxing song and read on to find out how it can help.

Research has found that music has a role in the brain development of the baby before birth. Exposure to music while in the womb is linked to significant improvement in the overall mental, cognizant, behavioural, sensory, psychological and emotional development of unborn babies, in comparison to those not exposed to any music while they were in the womb.

At around 16 to 18 weeks of pregnancy, the baby can hear its very first sound. By 24 weeks, the ears start to develop rapidly and babies have been shown to turn their heads in response to voices in the last few months of pregnancy. An unborn baby can recognize her mother’s voice, her native language, word patterns and rhymes.

In the third trimester, the baby will definitely be able to hear the music you play. You can listen to classical music, gentle sounds like lullabies, and melodies that are soothing and create an atmosphere of positivity and joy.

A study has found that Indian classical music can have a significant positive influence on pregnant women as well as their unborn babies. In the study, a group of pregnant women was encouraged to listen to the Carnatic music of Kalyani raga for at least 20 minutes each day. After 20 days, the researchers saw that there was an improvement in the unborn baby’s reflexes, responses, movement and mental stimulation. They also found that the music had calming effects on pregnant women.

It is natural to feel worried and stressed at several stages during your pregnancy. However, high levels of stress and anxiety during pregnancy can increase the risk of miscarriage, preterm delivery, and a baby born with less weight. Maternal anxiety early in pregnancy is also linked to a child’s susceptibility to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) later. Therefore, it is important to engage in activities that are relaxing and de-stressing for you. Listening to your favourite, calming music can help to relax your mind and uplift your mood, thereby lowering your stress and anxiety levels.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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