In a new study, European researchers suggest that the rhythms of ancient poetry can synchronize the body's heart and respiration rates. Similar positive effects have been linked to the Catholic rosary prayer and the yoga mantra.
It's far from clear if doctors will ever consider prescribing required reading lists to their patients. But the results are definitely intriguing, said Francois Haas, director of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation research at New York University School of Medicine.
"If there's a message, it's that our internal rhythms can be modified by external stimuli," Haas said.
In the new study, researchers from Austria, Germany and Switzerland studied 20 healthy men and women, average age 43, who repeated parts of a German translation of Homer's The Odyssey after they were read to them. Machines monitored their hearts and lungs as they read.
Their findings appeared recently in the current online edition of the American Journal of Physiology — Heart and Circulatory Physiology.
I'm not in the least surprised by this. And of course - O Rejoice in the Web! - I was able to find a German Odyssey online! (That is a great site, BTW. Another great site.) Apparently the German translation retains the hexameter, but the English doesn't. Anyway, here's a section:
Sage mir, Muse, die Taten des vielgewanderten Mannes,
Welcher so weit geirrt, nach der heiligen Troja Zerstörung,
Vieler Menschen Städte gesehn, und Sitte gelernt hat,
Und auf dem Meere so viel' unnennbare Leiden erduldet,
Seine Seele zu retten, und seiner Freunde Zurückkunft.
Aber die Freunde rettet' er nicht, wie eifrig er strebte,
Denn sie bereiteten selbst durch Missetat ihr Verderben:
Toren! welche die Rinder des hohen Sonnenbeherrschers
Schlachteten; siehe, der Gott nahm ihnen den Tag der Zurückkunft,
Sage hievon auch uns ein weniges, Tochter Kronions.
Alle die andern, so viel dem verderbenden Schicksal entflohen,
Waren jetzo daheim, dem Krieg' entflohn und dem Meere:
Ihn allein, der so herzlich zur Heimat und Gattin sich sehnte,
Hielt die unsterbliche Nymphe, die hehre Göttin Kalypso,
In der gewölbeten Grotte, und wünschte sich ihn zum Gemahle.
Selbst da das Jahr nun kam im kreisenden Laufe der Zeiten,
Da ihm die Götter bestimmt, gen Ithaka wiederzukehren;
Hatte der Held noch nicht vollendet die müdende Laufbahn,
Auch bei den Seinigen nicht. Es jammerte seiner die Götter;
Nur Poseidon zürnte dem göttergleichen Odysseus
Unablässig, bevor er sein Vaterland wieder erreichte.
What's the relevance to this blog? Another quote from the article:
Even in its German translation, The Odyssey is written in a complicated rhythmic formula called dactylic hexameter, in which each of the six sections of a line of poetry include a long syllable followed by a long syllable, a short syllable or two short syllables.
According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.com, here's an example of a dactylic hexameter: "Down in a/deep dark/hole sat an/old pig/munching a/bean stalk."
As they read the verses, the breathing rates of the subjects slowed down, and their heart and breathing rates became more synchronized. The rates fell almost entirely out of tune when the subjects breathed normally while not reading, suggesting the same thing happens in everyday life.
Previous research, which examined the effects of reciting the Rosary devotion — also known as Ave Maria or Hail Mary — and the "OM" yoga mantra, found that both reduced respiration levels to six breaths a minute, helping the heart work more effectively. The authors suggested the rosary may have become popular because the physiological effects of saying it made people feel better and perhaps more amenable to the devotion's religious message.
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