ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 16, 1996 TAG: 9601160019
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN CRENO THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC
Wait!
Before you go to the used-record exchange with that Kenny G. compact disc Santa stuck in your stocking, consider this:
Doctors and psychologists these days are recommending relaxing music to patients with stress-related health problems.
``I tell a lot of people to go home, take a warm shower and turn the radio to a light jazz or light rock station,'' said Evan Morgenstern, a Phoenix counselor who specializes in helping people make career transitions.
The right music can ease insomnia, muscle tension, even menstrual cramps, Morgenstern said.
Recovery-room nurses at Thunderbird Samaritan Medical Center are studying whether women coming out of hysterectomy surgery experience less pain when they listen to soothing music. The nurses have tested 40 patients and expect to complete their study sometime this year.
In Boston, cardiologist Ary Goldberger and his composer son, Zach, have released a New Age compact disc called ``Heartsongs'' that features music based on the rhythms of a healthy heartbeat.
``I've been recommending music to my patients for many, many, many years,'' said Scottsdale psychologist Gloria Malone, who teaches people to reduce chronic pain with hypnosis, meditation and music.
``If you are sitting in a quiet room thinking about your pain, it's going to hurt a lot more than if you are distracted by music. And research shows that listening to the right kind of music can slow the heart rate and breathing.''
While some physicians believe their stressed-out patients need New Age CDs, experts say this won't help anyone who thinks singer Enya should never be let out of the elevator.
``Music is such a personal thing, I prefer that people pick out their own,'' Malone said.
What works for most people is to start out listening to music that matches their energy level, then take it down a notch or two, she said.
``When I go home, I start out with my Rod Stewart tapes. I love Rod Stewart, he's very uplifting and inspiring to me,'' Malone said. ``Then I move into flute and piano music.''
Debbie Elman, co-owner of Changing Hands bookstore in Tempe, said increasing numbers of customers are buying CDs by Steven Halpern, a New Age artist who markets his work as healing music.
Also popular is a series of tapes called ``Relaxing with the Classics.''
``We have a lot of people coming in saying their doctors sent them,'' Elman said. ``People come back saying the music helped them sleep - or that it helped them quit smoking.''
Changing Hands also carries tapes by Kansas music therapist and composer Janalea Hoffman, whose ``Musical Hypnosis'' tape starts out with a rhythm of 80 beats per minute and gradually slows to 50. It's designed to reduce the heart rate.
Her tapes ``Musical Acupuncture'' and ``Musical Massage'' are designed for pain control.
Morgenstern, however, says special tapes aren't necessary. One of his patients coped with bad menstrual cramps before the holidays by listening to her favorite Christmas music.
Morgenstern usually recommends patients get an inexpensive clock radio that can be tuned to relaxing music, then programmed to shut off after the person has fallen asleep.
``It's important that the music shuts off, because otherwise it can disrupt sleep,'' he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 69 linesby CNB