RJA 8a: Free-writing

What effect does music have during pregnancy?

During pregnancy a woman's emotional state is always fluctuating. Stress and anxiety are all to common, classical music could help reduce this stress. Babies in the womb can hear sound from outside the womb, it is amplified inside the womb. Whatever the mother is listening to or even the tone in which she speaks and is spoken to can effect the child.

A growing fetus could be effected by the mother's stress and become stressed itself, possibly stunting brain development. However, with the help of music the fetus can sometimes be calmed. Music has the opposite effect of stress on brain development of the growing baby. The music can help regulate the heartbeat and stimulate activity and brain activity. This could lead to increased learning ability after birth.

I have heard that increased math skils, reading skills, and musical talent can be attributed to music exposure while in the womb. Classical music is said to be the most stimulating because of the regular tempo. Harsher styles of music would not be as helpful as classical music because harsher styles like heavy metal could actually increase the level of stress on the fetus. While this music may calm the mother because that is her favorite band, the tempo could confuse the fetus's heartbeat and stunt growth due to the stress from the music.

It is hard for studies to accurately research what happens in brain development during fetal growth throughout pregnancy, that is why this subject is so fascinating to me. Some pregnant women swear by classical music, some by meditation and yoga. It is possible it is completely different for each pregnancy but so many positive effects have been associated with music exposure that it is hard to deny that music has, at the least, a small effect on fetal growth.