Correct Tajweed and Happiness Hormones

Researchers have found that humming can significantly improve your health and happiness hormones. Wait for a second, what does this have to do with Tajweed? 

A significant part of Tajweed is about when and where to make the humming sound. The exact rules are Idgham and Ikhfa which deal with the letter nun, meem and whenever there is a Tanween. It is impossible to read a page of the Quran without making a humming sound. 

You might say so what? Humming is also practiced in Hinduism and Buddhism as part of the process to achieve enlightenment. Well, the humming when reading the Quran is more sophisticated. There is a varying degree of humming that you must perform if you want to read the Quran perfectly.

In the Quran, there are 11 symbols that when you come across them, you must make a humming sound. Then there is how long to elongate the humming, from 2 seconds to 6 seconds and many other aspects of humming.

So reading the Quran with proper Tajweed requires you to make humming sounds at various points, lengths,s, and intensities. 

The benefits of humming sounds

The powerful benefits of humming sound have been documented in a book called The Humming Effect Sound Healing for Health and Happiness by Jonathan Goldman; Andi Goldman.

Humming Improve Sinuses and respiratory functions

For example, they found that humming improves the airflow between sinuses and your nasal cavity. Humming creates turbulence in the air that you breathe. In healthy individuals, humming dramatically increases the amount of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is a gas that is naturally produced in the body and has many protective functions. It basically prevents air and mucus from becoming trapped inside the sinuses leading to pain and inflammation. It leads to uninterrupted airflow which improves the respiratory system. Humming leads to a 15 to 20-fold increase in NO levels helping to open up airways and kill pathogens that can cause diseases

Humming Reduces stress

It has been proven that humming can help reduce blood pressure and heart rate, relieving all the stresses of the day. How can this be? Nitric oxide is also known to be a vasodilator and antiviral agent. What this means is, that by incorporating humming into your daily routine, you are giving yourself the gift of a healthier circulatory system. Vasodilator medications can help with the opening up and dilation of tight or narrow blood vessels, humming helps us do this naturally. This helps in reducing blood pressure and stress.

Humming Activates the parasympathetic system

When you hum the parasympathetic system gets activated and automatically places the body in a relaxed state. It is the opposite of the fight or flight response: it puts the body in a rest and digest state.  You induce parasympathetic dominance, which will naturally put you in a relaxed state

Release of happiness hormones

Humming also releases endorphins which are known as a natural painkiller. However, endorphins have many other benefits such as. reduced depression, reduce anxiety. improved self-esteem, regulation or modulation of appetite, and enhanced immune response. Humming also releases oxytocin which is known as the trust hormone.

This explains the change in the mood and the state of relaxation that spreads during humming. In short it can take you out of depression into the feeling of bliss in a very short time. 

Strengthens the immune system

It has been well-researched that vibrations produced due to sound energy are directly involved in the stimulation of the thymus. The thymus is a small gland that is responsible for the maturation of T-lymphocytes. This gland usually involutes in size as the person ages, decreasing the production of T-lymphocytes. This can lead to many diseases taking over the body, including cancer. 

Do you have to master Tajweed rules before you can experience these benefits? It is obligatory that you read the Quran with proper Tajweed. But that does not mean you have to memorize every terminology about Tajweed. What you want to do is at least master Idgham and Ikhfa. 

One caveat though every time a scientific truth coincides with the Quran, it does not affect the value of the Quran. The Quran is a Miracle of all time, it provides guidance to mankind. It is not a book of science but a book of signs. We should have faith in it even if, it does not have any correlation to scientific discoveries. Your faith should not rest on scientific discoveries which keep changing every once in a while. But when it does coincide with the Quran, it gives us a new dimension to appreciate the Quran.