Live More Podcast
Featuring Alba S. Torremocha Instagram: @albastorremocha @willowaveapp Willowave: https://www.willowave.org In this episode of the Live More Podcast, recorded on Necker Island, I sit down with Alba S. Torremocha, award-winning composer, conductor and founder of Willowave, to explore something most of us never think about, even though it is shaping us every second of the day: sound. Alba makes a point early on that stuck with me. You can close your eyes, but you cannot close your ears. Sound is always coming in, and the brain is constantly processing it in the background, building a sense of whether we are safe or under threat. Most of us leave that running on a random playlist or the noise of traffic, when it could be working for us instead. We get into the physics and the physiology of it. We are mostly water, and sound moves through the body the way it moves through water. Certain frequencies have been shown to lower cortisol and shift the body into a calmer, parasympathetic state, which matters because chronic stress sits underneath so much of how we age. From there we cover sleep, focus, performance and the line between sound as wellness and sound as real, measurable tool. In this episode: • Why we are mostly water, and how sound physically vibrates the body • The frequencies shown to lower cortisol and move the body into a rest state • Why you can close your eyes but never your ears, and how the brain reads sound subconsciously • Brainwave entrainment, binaural and isochronic beats, and how the brain matches an outside frequency • How sound can deepen and extend the hours of deep sleep • Why nature sounds signal safety, and why harsh, sharp sounds still read as danger • The link between chronic stress, cortisol and inflammation • Subliminal affirmations, the inner narrative, and the brain as a pattern-matching machine • How music changes what we feel capable of (picture an epic film with the sound stripped out) • Flow state, and the gamma and alpha brainwaves behind deep focus • Why Alba wants to move sound out of pseudoscience and into hospitals, classrooms and everyday life Key takeaway: Sound is not background noise. It is one of the most powerful and overlooked tools we have for regulating stress, sleep, focus and emotion. Most people are leaving it on a random playlist when, with a little intention, it could be doing real work for them in the background. Studies and research relevant to this episode: • Music and cortisol — de Witte et al. (2020), Health Psychology Review. A systematic review and meta-analyses found that music interventions reduced cortisol, heart rate and blood pressure, the standard physiological markers of stress. • 528 Hz frequency — reviewed in Listening to Music as a Stress Management Tool (2022). Early research suggests 528 Hz music may lower cortisol and raise oxytocin. Promising, but still preliminary. • Binaural beats and brainwave entrainment — Garcia-Argibay et al. (2019), Psychological Research. A meta-analysis of 22 studies found a consistent, medium-sized effect of binaural beats on anxiety, memory, attention and pain perception. • Nature sounds and the nervous system — Gould van Praag et al. (2017), Scientific Reports. Listening to natural soundscapes shifted the autonomic nervous system toward the parasympathetic rest-and-digest state and increased high-frequency heart rate variability, a marker we often discuss on this podcast. • Stress recovery — Alvarsson, Wiens and Nilsson (2010). People recovered from a stressor faster physiologically while listening to nature sounds than while hearing noise. About Alba S. Torremocha Alba is an award-winning composer, conductor and multi-instrumentalist, and the founder of Willowave. She trained as a violinist and composer in Europe, graduated as valedictorian from the Musikene Conservatoire in Spain, and earned a masters in Film Scoring with honours from New York University, where she has also lectured on the science of sound. Her work spans orchestral pieces, film and video game scores, and years of research into psychoacoustics: how frequency and vibration shape emotion, memory and state. Willowave is her effort to bring that out of the studio and into daily life, stacking healing frequencies, brainwave entrainment, nature sounds and affirmations into soundscapes built for a specific state, whether that is sleep, calm or focus. Try the app: https://www.willowave.org/theapp Connect with me 🎙 Live More Podcast 📱 Instagram: @biohackrob 🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/BioHackRob If you enjoyed this conversation, follow the Live More Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts so you do not miss an episode. A quick rating or review on Apple Podcasts really helps new listeners find the show, and if this one resonated, share it with someone who would get something from it.
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