This is how a birthing playlist can help with pain relief when giving birth
Music is a powerful thing – it can help us concentrate, sleep, relax… and even give birth.
Birthing playlists have become a popular choice with expectant mums over the past few years – with celebrities, influencers and just ordinary folk opting for familiar pop songs or relaxing background music while they push through labour and birth itself.
This isn’t just a placebo or a fad – music can be an incredible tool for individuals when they are having a baby, because it can help alter how they perceive pain.
Marley Hall, a midwife and speaker at the upcoming Baby Show at Olympia London, tells Metro.co.uk: ‘Listening to music during childbirth has been a popular way of coping with labour for a long time. Researchers have documented its benefits as far back as 2000.
‘Their studies have concluded that listening to music may alter how the person perceives pain due to how the sounds act through the central nervous system. These parts of the brain are closely associated with memory and emotion.’
Not only can music make us process pain differently, but it also has a soothing effect on our bodies – and can calm us down. This helps to put us in a more positive mindset.
Katharine Graves, the founder of KG Hypnobirthing, says: ‘Many women find music soothing when they give birth and draw up a playlist of music to play during labour. Probably the main benefit is that music is calming and, when the mind is calm, we produce the hormone oxytocin.
‘There are oxytocin receptors in the uterus so the uterine muscle works better with a calm mind, so labour is shorter.
‘Also, when the mind is calm, we are not in the freeze/flight/fight mode (sympathetic nervous system) so we are not planning to run or fight therefore all the blood supply remains in the internal organs, i.e. the uterus.
‘The uterus is a bag of muscle, some of the most powerful muscles in the body, and muscles need a good supply of oxygen.’
There’s also the element of familiarity, which can really help during such a stressful and painful experience.
Sonia Khan, a senior pharmacist at Medicine Direct, says: ‘Listening to your favourite music during such a painful and intense time helps you to feel in touch with something familiar and comforting, which serves to distract you from the pain you are experiencing.
‘It has been suggested by some researchers that music may help to stimulate the pituitary gland within your brain to release endorphins, which are feel-good hormones. It may also increase the level of the neurotransmitter serotonin.’
It’s worth pointing out that the type of music on a birthing playlist can have an impact, too.
So Marley has some recommendations for those considering one.
She adds: ‘The type of music you listen too is up to you, you may want upbeat music in early labour to help distract you from what’s going on.
‘However, later on in active, established labour, softer more tranquil music or hypnobirthing tracks are more likely to help and support a positive mindset for birth.’
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