Rhythm and Culture

Recent advances permit us to understand more fully the role of rhythm and rhythmicity in human functioning and in human development.

It turns out there are some circuits (neurologists call them oscillators) in the basal ganglia of the brain which control the rhythm and timing of activities in the body. These circuits send signals to the appropriate place (muscles, for instance) at the appropriate time, or they provide a gating facility which permits signals to pass (when the gate is open), or stops signals (when the gate is closed). Proper functioning of these oscillators is necessary for all human activity and is integral for proper human development. If these circuits are not functioning properly, we do not develop appropriately.

Sending signals to the appropriate places in the body is much like the distributor in the engine of our automobiles. The distributor sends signals to sparkplugs at each cylinder at the correct time. When poorly adjusted, the signals arrive at the wrong time and the engine runs poorly (if at all). When the distributor is adjusted properly, the signals arrive at the correct time and the engine runs smoothly.

If our own rhythm and timing circuits send signals which arrive at the wrong time or to the wrong place, we will have poor operation of our body. There are many different ways our oscillators can be operating poorly. They can be running too fast or too slow. They can be erratic. They can run correctly for a while and then pop-out of correct operation.

When these circuits are not working appropriately,
it often shows up as:

	A lack of focus and concentration
	Poor coordination
	Inability to sit still
	Inability for follow instructions
	Impulsivity
	Extreme sensitivity to light, sound, or touch
	Poor athletic performance
	Poor academic performance
	Poor speech development
	Poor emotional development
	Poor social development

How do we normally learn Rhythmicity?

Our brains are adaptable. For every behavior we repeat, our brain builds circuits for managing that behavior. The more some behavior is repeated, the more the brain builds onto that circuit for managing that behavior. Our brain uses proprioceptive signals from our bodies to know that we are repeating a behavior and to perform this circuit growth.

When the repeated behaviors are rhythmic, the brain builds rhythmic circuits. These rhythmic circuits become the timing and rhythmicity circuits which control our behavior (including focus and attention). These are the timing and rhythmicity circuits which are integral to our development.

As infants, we are placed in many situations where our parents and care-takers repeat behaviors with us. When we cry, someone picks us up and rocks us, bounces us, or jiggles us. Our mother picks us up and carries us on her hip as she moves around the house and this jiggles us. This rocking, bouncing, and jiggling are among the activities which build those rhythmicity circuits. When adults hold and rock their infants, they are building those rhythmic circuits in their children. When adults bounce or carry their infants while walking, they are building those rhythmic circuits.  When adults hold and jiggle their infants, they are building those rhythmic circuits.

As small children, we play games which help us develop our timing circuits. We play patty-cake and this builds timing circuits. We run and this builds timing circuits. We jump rope and this builds timing circuits. We walk and this builds timing circuits. We ride on our parents shoulders and this builds timing circuits. We bounce on the bed and on furniture and this builds timing circuits. We play hopscotch and jacks and this builds timing circuits. We dance as music is playing and this builds timing circuits. We ride a horse and this builds timing circuits.

Reasons today's children do not
have good timing circuits

	Premature children are usually born before their physiology has properly developed. This includes timing circuits. For instance, many premature children cannot perform the eating sequence of suck-swallow-breathe. In neo-natal clinics, mothers of premature children are encouraged to rock their infant children to help develop the child's initial timing circuits so the child can learn the suck-swallow-breathe sequence.
	Sometimes children have their existing timing circuits damaged by exposure to harmful things. Children with proper timing circuits can be damaged by black mold or mercury exposure. Brain injury, tumors, and surgery can also directly affect existing timing circuits.
	Children who do not get the bouncing, jiggling, rocking, or rhythmic activity they need, will not develop appropriate rhythmic circuits.
	Children who have too much exposure to arrhythmic (non-rhythmic) activity may build faulty (non-rhythmic) timing circuits. So, too much exposure to cartoons and videogames (non-rhythmic activities) could implant faulty timing circuits.

These children need remedial programs for them to develop good timing circuits. They need exposure to an extended rhythmic regimen.

Why do we have a growing problem with developmental difficulties?

Traditionally, humans have included rhythmic behavior in all parts of community life. Primitive cultures have rhythmic games for children, rhythmic processes for completing work tasks, and rhythmic chanting, dancing, and drumming for ceremonies. In primitive cultures, children grow up and live their whole life with a strong emphasis on rhythm and rhythmicity.

As we modern humans entered the Industrial Age, we took on a new cultural acceptance of machines. We decided that we could let machines do as much as possible for us.

Overall, this was done with good intention. We have let machines carry us as we had let horses carry us in the past. We did not understand that the action of walking is actually necessary for the healthy functioning and development of our brains and bodies. While riding a horse, the rhythmic movement of the horse's gate is transferred to our bodies (as if we were walking). When a child is carried by and adult, the rhythmic movement of the adult walking is transferred to our bodies (as if we were walking).

Now, we are in a epoch where we don't carry our infant children. We put them in buggies or strollers and we do not give our infant children the bouncing and jiggling they would receive when carried by someone walking. By traveling in buggies and strollers, our children are not exposed to the natural rhythmic activities which would build their timing circuits. For some children, this is not enough rhythmic activity to build the needed timing and rhythmicity circuits for proper functioning and proper development.

Our modern culture has given us many other changes which affect the development of these circuits. The ease with which we can travel and communicate over long distances has given us distributed families. As our infants develop there are few grandmothers available to sit and rock the child. And, as more mothers have to work to augment the family income, children spend much more time in playpens and in front of TVs. Infants and children need an ongoing exposure to rhythmic activities to properly build their rhythmicity circuits.

Rhythmicity is essential in human development.  Cultures with highly rhythmic games and other activities seem to have much lower rates of ADHD.

Primitive cultures have rhythmic games for their children. Village ceremonies are rhythmic. Many of their work activities are rhythmic. This is universal across all primitive cultures. If all these cultures have ended up with so much rhythmic activity, rhythmicity must be an important part of human development. Based on what we know about the effects of poor rhythmicity, maybe cultures without rhythmic behaviors were not able to flourish (poor hunting skills, poor language development, poor social and emotional development, etc.).

Native Hawaiian children have ADHD at only 20% of the rate of other children in the Hawaii.  Native Hawaiian children are "encouraged" to take hula lessons starting at an early age and continuing though much of their childhood. These lessons develop rhythmicity. This grounding in rhythmicity dramatically reduces the possibility they will have ADHD or other developmental difficulty problems.

Teachers and Principals in Amish schools tell us their students do not have ADHD. In a recent interview with an Amish school principal, he admitted he did not know what ADHD was. Amish children don't have video games and cartoons to watch, they have to walk or ride horses to get around. Walking and horseback riding are rhythmic activities. Weeding the garden with a hoe is a very rhythmic activity. Milking cows by hand is a very rhythmic activity. Churning butter is a very rhythmic activity. Amish children are exposed to many rhythmic activities and this helps them develop naturally.

In the USA there are four times more boys with ADHD than girls with ADHD. If we look at rhythmic games for our children, we find that jump rope, hop-scotch, patty-cake, hula-hoop, and jacks are about the only rhythmic games left in our modern culture. Girls play these games, but boys do not. So, girls have the opportunity, by playing these games, to develop rhythmicity at an early age. Boys do not have this same opportunity to learn rhythmicity, because they do not participate in those games 'designed' to develop rhythmicity.

Most cartoons and videogames are arrhythmic (non-rhythmic). They do not support the appropriate development of these circuits in the brain. So, children who stay at these games are losing the opportunity to develop rhythmicity. Arrhythmic videogames may even reduce a person's rhythmicity over time. Someone with good rhythmicity might be better at these games, but the games do not teach rhythmicity. Continued exposure to arrhythmic activity might start the development of non-rhythmic timing circuits.