As someone who lives with a roommate who sleep takes, has a brother at home who screams expletives some nights heard from down the hall, and has been known to babble in her own sleep I suppose it is only appropriate that I dive into the question: Why does one talk in their sleep?

According to WebMd   Sleep talking is also known as somniloquy “is the act of speaking during sleep.” It’s viewed as an out of the ordinary sleeping disorder and probably a lot more common than you think.  However a typical episode doesn’t last any longer than thirty seconds and majority of the time it is mumbles and senseless phrases that come spewing out of the sleeper’s mouth.  On one occasion my roommate who took Chinese for several years in the past began speaking Mandarin in the middle of the night, startling myself and our other roommate. It was hysterical, but crazy! The statistics say that around 10% of children sleep talk and converse while about 5% of adults do the same.  It is also shown that the disorder is gender neutral, but may run in families.

Onto the real reason why this blog post is being written: Why do we do it? Scientists claim sleep talking can occur in any stage of sleeping, not necessarily just your deepest sleep or when we dream and have nightmares.  Sleep talking is rather harmless, but if severe enough can point to certain sleep behavior disorders and even night terrors. Sleep talkers often overlap with sleep walkers or sleep eaters.  The article claims stress, medication, fever, mental health disorder, and substance abuse as some of the main causes for sleep talking. There is rarely ever a need for treatment, unless the person becomes a danger to themself or those around them. In that case, a doctor’s appointment must be made. Since there is a lack of treatment, there really isn’t a known way to reduce the talking either. It is advised to be aware of medication side effects, when you exercise and when you drink any beverages.

I don’t know about you, but I am not quite satisfied with all these unknowns. I personally, would like a stronger answer as to why this occurs. I don’t find sleep talking bothersome, but it would be nice to know why my body does some of the things it does. I feel that on nights where I get less sleep I hear about my sleep talking session, or nights when I eat a late dinner similar occurrences ensue. I suppose until a true study is done the world will never know. There is always the possibility of chance. But for right now I am intrigued to find out what the causation would be. If anyone has any leads, please let me know!

As someone who lives with a roommate who sleep takes, has a brother at home who screams expletives some nights heard from down the hall, and has been known to babble in her own sleep I suppose it is only appropriate that I dive into the question: Why does one talk in their sleep?

According to WebMd   Sleep talking is also known as somniloquy “is the act of speaking during sleep.” It’s viewed as an out of the ordinary sleeping disorder and probably a lot more common than you think.  However a typical episode doesn’t last any longer than thirty seconds and majority of the time it is mumbles and senseless phrases that come spewing out of the sleeper’s mouth.  On one occasion my roommate who took Chinese for several years in the past began speaking Mandarin in the middle of the night, startling myself and our other roommate. It was hysterical, but crazy! The statistics say that around 10% of children sleep talk and converse while about 5% of adults do the same.  It is also shown that the disorder is gender neutral, but may run in families.

Onto the real reason why this blog post is being written: Why do we do it? Scientists claim sleep talking can occur in any stage of sleeping, not necessarily just your deepest sleep or when we dream and have nightmares.  Sleep talking is rather harmless, but if severe enough can point to certain sleep behavior disorders and even night terrors. Sleep talkers often overlap with sleep walkers or sleep eaters.  The article claims stress, medication, fever, mental health disorder, and substance abuse as some of the main causes for sleep talking. There is rarely ever a need for treatment, unless the person becomes a danger to themself or those around them. In that case, a doctor’s appointment must be made. Since there is a lack of treatment, there really isn’t a known way to reduce the talking either. It is advised to be aware of medication side effects, when you exercise and when you drink any beverages.

I don’t know about you, but I am not quite satisfied with all these unknowns. I personally, would like a stronger answer as to why this occurs. I don’t find sleep talking bothersome, but it would be nice to know why my body does some of the things it does. I feel that on nights where I get less sleep I hear about my sleep talking session, or nights when I eat a late dinner similar occurrences ensue. I suppose until a true study is done the world will never know. There is always the possibility of chance. But for right now I am intrigued to find out what the causation would be. If anyone has any leads, please let me know!

As someone who lives with a roommate who sleep takes, has a brother at home who screams expletives some nights heard from down the hall, and has been known to babble in her own sleep I suppose it is only appropriate that I dive into the question: Why does one talk in their sleep?

According to WebMd   Sleep talking is also known as somniloquy “is the act of speaking during sleep.” It’s viewed as an out of the ordinary sleeping disorder and probably a lot more common than you think.  However a typical episode doesn’t last any longer than thirty seconds and majority of the time it is mumbles and senseless phrases that come spewing out of the sleeper’s mouth.  On one occasion my roommate who took Chinese for several years in the past began speaking Mandarin in the middle of the night, startling myself and our other roommate. It was hysterical, but crazy! The statistics say that around 10% of children sleep talk and converse while about 5% of adults do the same.  It is also shown that the disorder is gender neutral, but may run in families.

Onto the real reason why this blog post is being written: Why do we do it? Scientists claim sleep talking can occur in any stage of sleeping, not necessarily just your deepest sleep or when we dream and have nightmares.  Sleep talking is rather harmless, but if severe enough can point to certain sleep behavior disorders and even night terrors. Sleep talkers often overlap with sleep walkers or sleep eaters.  The article claims stress, medication, fever, mental health disorder, and substance abuse as some of the main causes for sleep talking. There is rarely ever a need for treatment, unless the person becomes a danger to themself or those around them. In that case, a doctor’s appointment must be made. Since there is a lack of treatment, there really isn’t a known way to reduce the talking either. It is advised to be aware of medication side effects, when you exercise and when you drink any beverages.

I don’t know about you, but I am not quite satisfied with all these unknowns. I personally, would like a stronger answer as to why this occurs. I don’t find sleep talking bothersome, but it would be nice to know why my body does some of the things it does. I feel that on nights where I get less sleep I hear about my sleep talking session, or nights when I eat a late dinner similar occurrences ensue. I suppose until a true study is done the world will never know. There is always the possibility of chance. But for right now I am intrigued to find out what the causation would be. If anyone has any leads, please let me know!

Popular Science magazine  may have an extremely interesting story for me to tell. As someone who adores spicy food – Mexican, Indian, whatever the origin, the spicier the better in my eyes (stomach?).  Written by Jennifer Abbasi, she proposes that a love for spicy food is no longer simply just a cultural upbringing, but draws a connection to your personality.

She explains that in recent years, culinary psychologists (yes, they exist) have dove into the idea that there are both biological and cultural reasoning to the food we eat – spicy food in particular. Among possible reasons are elicit pain, societal norms, or even oral anatomy.  Abbasi quotes Nadia Byrnes and John Hayes both staff here at Penn State’s School of Agricultural Sciences. They say that even something has obscure as chili gives off a burning sensation that is pleasant to certain people, leaving them wanting more. Byrnes and Hayes explored the chili lovers in a large study utilizing oral receptors. Their pool avoided gender and age biases and consisted of ninety-seven participants between ages 18 to 45. The participants filled out questionnaires and rated the sensations on intensity. The study concluded that there was no association between high spicy eaters and “feeling the burn” from the receptor, which may prove that personality truly does play a key role. In other words, the individuals who enjoy spicy foods don’t feel the sensation less than those who don’t like spicy foods, they just seem to enjoy it more.

Byrnes and Hayes don’t rule out childhood exposure and education as possibilities. I personally feel it has a lot to do with open-mindedness.  For me at least, spicy foods were an acquired taste. I never really cared for them until a few years ago.  The researchers also nod to the fact that many individuals’ taste buds grow and mature as time goes on.

An even more recent study  than the one mentioned above associates spicy foods with risk takers! They are seen as “sensation seekers” by the 2013 Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting. This study was coincidentally done by Penn State’s staff again, Nadia Byrnes and John Hayes; this time testing 200 people on their level of risk behavior and assessing their enjoyment of intense spiciness. This is an interesting test, because people raised in the United States are brought up around spicy foods, so they may be seen as risk takers. However, if this study were done in Asia this would probably be close to normal and wouldn’t describe personality.

In my mind this makes complete sense.  When I sit back and think about the people I know who love spicy food they come from culturally diverse backgrounds where spices and robust combinations of flavors reign in their home. There are also the people who are willing to try anything once, and therefore they go into eating things with a positive attitude.  

The final of my three blog music posts will question why we listen to sad music and how music is said to heal.  In an article from the NY Times by Al Kawakami the reasoning behind our love for sad music is explored. Kawakami brings up a strong point: why do we listen to music that just seems to induce our sadness? Why does it please us? These are questions experts have pondered for years, and the respect for artistic expression may be the answer.

Kawakami and his colleagues studied a new idea of “music emotion” this “encompasses both the felt emotion that the music induces in the listener and the perceived emotion that the listener judges the music to express.” When separating the emotion of the song and the emotion felt by the listener it is easier to dissect their true identities. In Kawakami’s experiment he had a random pool of 44 participants, men and women. He then had them listen to thirty-seconds of three separate musical selections, experimenting with minor and major keys. A participant would be asked several basic questions on their current state of being after listening to the selections.  The researchers concluded that despite certain music being deemed “tragic” the listeners didn’t typically feel that way about the piece; it was more of how they perceived it.  After having the subjects listen to “happy” pieces a similar conclusion was reached. The participants didn’t exactly feel “happier,” but they could easily perceive happy emotions.  This also came across in rating of 62 emotion related words – participants ranked perceived emotions higher than felt emotions.

Kawakami believes that when we listen to sad or happy music we can easily separate ourselves from the true feelings, because unless we are in the situation we know we subconsciously know we are not in any danger. Interestingly, like the past experiments I have discussed that innate ability to differentiate between feelings in music and feelings in “reality” come up again.

Tied into the sadness question posed above, a sensation that is currently gaining momentum is music therapy. According to prevention.com Suzanne Hanser, EdD, chairperson of the music therapy department at Berklee College of Music and a music therapist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, explains ways to utilize music to help heal. The article claims that music therapy manages pain, decreases nausea during chemotherapy, relieves anxiety, and lowers blood pressure among other health benefits.  “There is no set prescription,” Hanser says. She claims anything you could need is found in your own home. An important aspect of successful music therapy is choosing music with appropriate memories and feelings. She “prescribes” upbeat and rhythmic selections in order to cheer up and classical and new age music if you’re trying to sleep. She even has certain methods and routines that optimize results. For example, before bed she suggests skipping after dinner coffee to wind down, and relax by listening to your music in bed whilst taking deep, steady breaths.  If interested in music therapy, definitely check out the article it has some useful information. Not only is music therapy a personal experiment, but it is being widely used among hospitals. Many of you might have recognized the practice which benefits from THON efforts.

As per usual, I suppose all of these benefits could be due to chance. It might also be worth noting that when someone is hurt or stressed they often listen to music, but you don’t listen to music in order to get hurt or stressed.  Music therapy is a very unique practice and worth experimenting, so maybe one day before dreaded finals week lie down on your twin sized bed, concentrate on proper breathing, and switch on a slow Dave Matthews Band jam to get yourself comfortable. 

Another burning question, why do humans enjoy music? It’s mind-boggling that music has such power of us.  Unsurprisingly, for something so variable there is not just one answer.  When this question was proposed to Dr. John Powell, a Visiting Professor of Materials Science at the University of Nottingham he had some interesting points to make. Firstly, he distinguished the differences between sounds of music versus noises. They are simply not the same, your ears register noises as warning signs for danger, and your ears can also magnificently register musical instruments and voices that are “unlikely to be lethal,” he writes. He further explains the way the human ear reacts to music: the ear drum consistently pulsates in and out x number of times per second. The fact that our ears respond differently to the ebb and flow of music versus other sounds allow the individuals to hone in on harmonies, melodies, and all other elements of the music. Dr. Powell clarifies the significance of a simple twang on a stringed instrument like a cello or guitar. The pluck or strum gives off frequencies that bounce to us, leaving a pleasant sound. As a species we appreciate melodic notes, and enjoy spots of tension that resolve. These “twangs” allow orchestrations to blossom and combinations of sounds to thrive. When listening to a song it is important for consistency and consecutiveness, which often holds a certain melody or musical phrase that resonates with the listener. This key note is known as “home.” Dr. Powell describes well written songs as “conversation.” Perhaps this is what makes listening to music an everyday occurrence for most humans; our subconscious wants to hear what the music has to say.

Contrary to the ideas just discussed, there is also a natural desire to “keep us guessing.” With so many variations of music, Dr. Powell says that in genres such as jazz or classical anticipation builds and builds only to “set up expectations and then either reward or frustrate them.” A third component that adds to the pleasure we find in music would be the natural cadence of a song. From drumming, dancing, or short and sweet pop melodies it gives the audience something to hum and remember. 

Like in my first article, Dr. Powell goes on to discuss the significance of Western music. Unlike many traditional music systems, Western music follows sequences that are carefully organized. Indian traditional music for example is vastly different where there may be a steady drum and a soloist soars among an abundance of varying notes. These two musical systems and all those in between are different, yet possess the same hold over humans. According to Dr. Powell science can’t distinguish why an individual might prefer one type of genre over another. He also included an interesting analogy that like acquiring a taste for new food it takes people about 10 times of “trying” a new genre of music to actually get enjoyment out of it if originally put off.

To ensure Dr. Powell was accurate, I found several other resources that say virtually the same thing.One in particular from Time magazine written by Michael D. Lemonick brings up an interesting point. We technically don’t need music to survive. It doesn’t help us physically reproduce, make food, or sleep. So why has it lasted all these years? It has been cultural foundation for the billions of people that have roamed this planet. It is the center of many worlds, religions, and customs.

The most intriguing part of Lemonick’s article brings to light the science. Music activates the part of the brain that releases dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical that gets released during the climax of sex and eating. It’s most commonly discussed with addictive drugs and taboo behavior, but it is certainly a natural release for humans. Because music triggers the release of this chemical, that is another stack of evidence to add onto our already lengthy pile on why music is truly so enjoyable for humans. Music is tied to our “survival mechanisms” that allow us to recognize patterns and understand emotions (as mentioned earlier).  The main component all these researchers and scientists stressed in their findings was the ultimate foundation of being satisfied. Music gives humans a release, an outlet, and something to hold onto.

To conclude, there is something innately within us, perhaps a biological mechanism, that gives us imagination, aspiration, and satisfaction when listening to music. We have every desire to plug in headphones and “zone out” to our favorite songs.

There you are, sitting in the Hub on a typical Friday afternoon.  You scramble through the crowds of students to find an empty seat just to sit for the hour between now and your next class.  To no avail, you circle the hub three times and finally a seat opens up. You pull out a reading for your class, finger through the pages but can’t seem to catch a break from the girl sitting next to you chatting obnoxiously on her cellphone. And the Starbucks line stretches out so far you’re practically among the dozens of people waiting for their pumpkin spice lattes. Now you decide to whip out your earphones and switch on a playlist. Finally, some peace and quiet. You find serenity among the absolute chaos surrounding you. You smile to yourself as your favorite melody pours into your ears.

The above situation seems all too familiar to each of us. It’s a simple equation. When we’re feeling overwhelmed, stressed, upset, happy, or sad (whatever emotion happens to be with us that day) we choose music as our drug of choice. It acts as a pain reliever or gives us a euphoric high. Why is music truly the universal language? Why do we genuinely enjoy music? Why are we willing to pay hundreds of dollars for fancy headphones, concert tickets, or mp3s? I hope to answer these questions and support the importance of music in my following blog posts.

To start simply, according to Webster’s dictionary music is “the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity.” The textbook definition sounds rather wordy, so it is much simpler to break music down to a colorful science of art. One question that has been pondered throughout the ages is if music truly is the universal language? Well, according to a study published on March 19^th, 2009 in Current Biology newsmagazine yes, yes it is. The revolutionary study conducted by Thomas Fritz and Stefan Koelsch of the Max-Planck-Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences along with their colleagues, set their objective on the effects of Western music. They wanted to explore the many ways Western music can be understood and possibly appreciated by people who had absolutely no previous experience. The researchers contrasted the expression of emotion in typical Western music to the culturally vibrant, ritualistic music found in other musical traditions. Although previous studies had been conducted in attempt to make similar finds, none truly required participants “who are completely naive to Western music.”

To find participants for this study, Fritz and his team of colleagues traveled to the central African country Cameroon where he recruited the Mafa community, one of the many ethnic tribes located in the region. The researchers traveled to the group’s home located in the desolate Mandara mountain ranges. There, Fritz brought a backpack with his laptop computer and solar electricity source to power the laptop.  The studies concluded that Mafa listeners who had never heard Western music could register musical expressions of emotions, “more often than would be expected by chance.” Twenty-one Mafa group members participated, and due to the incredibly unique experience of listening to Western music the research concluded two of the participants were more than likely performing at chance level. The study later included a number of Westerners who had never been exposed to Western music. In all, the listeners used human instinct to decode messages such as changes in tempo, volume and pitch. Interestingly, the study also concluded that these first time listeners found the original version of music   more appealing than the remixed or technologically altered versions.

The ultimate conclusion of this study was that both new listeners, Mafa and Westerners, possessed the capability to “recognize three basic emotional expressions” undergone in this study. All participants were able to gauge at or above the chance level which is indicative of the fact that these Western pieces can indeed be universally recognized. Fritz compared these results of universal music to that of recognizing human facial expressions and speech intonation.  This study, specific and unique from others done before helps us see that despite chance and third variables, this control group was able to truly verify that music is a universal language.

In my opinion, I find the study quite interesting and well thought out. Although it was hard for me to distinguish particular details from the article I read, I do feel the study was a success. It found problems from earlier trials and applied that knowledge to the new experiment. Because the nature of the objective was rather obvious and general, I feel that third variables and chance do not really take part in the study. If the subject has never heard Western music or anything like it, they simply must rely on their own instincts to guide them. According to Fritz and his team of experts, they did just that. They differentiated between the feelings emoted through song. Personally, I would have been interested to see the song list they chose to play for the participants. What would you have done differently if conducting the study?