Dr. Dale Atkins Visit Dr. Atkins' web site at www.drdaleatkins.com

The Anti-Aging Music Diet
By Dr. Dale Atkins
Foreword by Kathleen Daelemans

Fill up on music that rocks your soul and you might just wake up with a healthier heart and a few less wrinkles. Okay that's a little farfetched or is it? A new study published in the Journal Heart reports that "listening to music that has a slow or meditative tempo has a relaxing effect on people and can actually slow their breathing and their heart rates whereas listening to faster music with a more upbeat tempo has the opposite effect—speeding up respiration and heart rate."

Do You Have The Music In You?
According to Dr. Peter Sleight from the University of Oxford in the UK, other research has shown that music can alleviate stress, improve athletic performance and improve movement in neurologically impaired patients with stroke or Parkinson's disease.

Researchers monitored breathing rate, blood pressure and other heart and respiratory indexes, in 24 healthy young men and women, before and while listening to short excerpts of different kinds of music including slow and fast classical music of differing complexities and rap music. They also monitored the subjects during 2-minute musical intermissions.

Half of the subjects were trained musicians; the other half had no musical training. The investigators report that listening to music initially produced varying levels of arousal—accelerated breathing, increased blood pressure and heart rate—that is directly proportional to the tempo of the music and perhaps the complexity of the rhythm.

Rock-a-bye Baby...
They study also found that calm is induced by slower rhythms and, interestingly, by short pauses or intermissions in the music. Pausing the music for 2 minutes actually induces a condition of relaxation greater than that observed before subjects began listening to the music tracks, the investigators report.

Botox for the Soul
Dr. Dale Atkins, a New York Based licensed psychologist, author and television host encourages patients to use music as a way to create and maintain balance. Sometimes when you feel "old" and unable to begin a task because there are just too many jobs waiting to be done, it's helpful to totally stop and "regroup." Feelings of stress and of being overwhelmed negatively impact aging but all is not lost" advises Dr. Atkins. You can break that cycle.

Dr. Atkins' new book Sanity Savers: Tips for Women to Live a Balanced Life is available for pre-order at Amazon.com In the meantime turn back your clock and pump up your heart health with her Anti-aging Sanity Saver Below.

Music Makes You Feel Young Again!
By Dr. Dale Atkins

Remember, it is not how much stress you have but how you handle it that matters. Letting go of stress is easier if your stress busters are readily available. So keep your iPod nearby and give yourself a few moments to let the music "fill" you. See what happens.

1. Music is Therapy – For many women in particular, hearing those melodies can bring you back to your basic, essential self. Dancing around the living room or kitchen, remembering a favorite dance partner can give you energy. Listening to music can even help with your health by lowering your blood pressure and heart rate, as well as improve your mood. Listen and play to keep yourself "in internal shape." Let music evoke a time of freedom, ability and joy.
   
   
2. Rhythm is Therapy – Sign up for drumming lessons, join a woman's drumming circle, or just buy a drum. Drumming can bring a feeling of relaxation almost immediately.
   
   
3. Singing is Therapy – Music does not just have to be in the background. Focus on the sounds, the melodies, the words, and the rhythm. Sing along and feel the spark you felt when you were younger.

Plug into "calm" and recharge your batteries by meditating.
Meditating is like brushing your teeth. You wouldn't risk tartar build up and dental decay so why risk stress build up and mental/emotional decay?

Is life going too fast? Are decisions difficult to figure out? Do you have too many choices and feel overwhelmed? Is there a relationship that's weighing on you? What is in your soul that's longing to come out?

We all need to be still to slow life down and sort through our lives. Meditation is a way to find that stillness and connect with a revitalizing source of energy. It can help foster tranquility, creativity, and renewal.
Many people conjure up the image of gurus, crystals and incense. But, quieting the mind is available to anyone and can be effective and calming. Here's how to do it:

• Relax Your Mind – Focus on our breath. Empty your thoughts. When your mind wanders to what you have to do and what stresses you, bring it back to your breath. Watch or feel it come into and out of your nostrils.
  
  
• Relax Your Body – Allow yourself to release all tension in your muscles, and all parts of your body . . . around the eyes, jaw, shoulders, neck, stomach, hips, legs. Breathe deeply and slowly.
  
  
• Let Go... and be. Don't control, just go with the flow. Let your mind and body float and welcome the feeling.
  You deserve to relax. Meditate and let go.

dratkins@kathleendaelemans.com