The Effects of Turkish Music on Pregnancy And Newborn

Music has played an important role in different cultures since time immemorial. It has profoundly affected human beings in their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being. Nowadays researchers point out that, there is a close relationship between music and health procedures and that it can be used in every area of health in a noninvasive, safe and cheap method that does not have any side
effects. Sufis have played music in history of Islamic civilization. They have expecially pointed out that Turkish music was effective in the treatment of psychological disorders. Turkish music makams have been used as a treatment of some kind to treat disorders from past to present. However, there isn’t any literature regarding the evaluation of pregnant women and babies. Althought pregnancy is a normal process, a lot of women experience stress because of the emotional, physical and social changes they undergo, just like anxiety over their baby’s physical health and pending lifestyle changes during this period. The music listened in pregnancy reduces stress as well as anxiety. Listening to music in the prenatal period affects the infant positively in the neonatal period. When the fetus hears the same voices
and sounds that she used to hear in her intrauterine life, it has a relief effect on the infant after birth. It decreases the stress of the infants, increases mother-infant attachment and brings about positive physiological and behavioral changes. Music therapy is important not only in terms of trearment of diseases but also brings about preventive health behaviors in healthy persons. Peoples are affected by their own cultural music and for this reason they could comminicate with each other more healthily by listening to this cultural music. Although there are a lot of reseaches examining music therapy of different cultures, there is no academic research in our culture evaluating Turkish music. The filling in this scientific gap is important for protection of individual health as well as our social and cultural values.