Beginning in old traditional rituals and social gatherings, drumming has been an integral part of our human lives. From the repetitiveness of our daily routines to the brilliant drum solos we hear on the radio, it’s evident that rhythm is rooted in our daily routines. However, recent research has shown that drumming could benefit the human brain. Specifically, many studies have shown that drumming can improve a person’s intelligence and mental health through neural connections in the brain.

For instance, an article by Soul African Drumming states that rhythm is a powerful tool for our health because it activates the entire brain: including your vision, speech, and much more. The sounds of drumming, for example, generate “dynamic neuronal connections” in all parts of the brain even when there is damage to the brain (Soul African Drumming, 2021). In other words, drumming enables your entire brain to connect the different sections of your brain, even when mental disorders are present; mental illnesses such as depression can impact the decision-making part of your brain, but drumming can still stimulate it. For example, an article from ScienceDaily found that the people who played drums had a different brain structure and function from those who did not. The results suggest that “they have fewer, but thicker fibres in the main connecting tract between the two halves of the brain.” Furthermore, their motor brain areas were organized more efficiently (Ruhr-University Bochum, 2019). These findings show that these drummers have strengthened or developed new neural connections, and have possibly gotten smarter.

Another benefit of drumming is that it can improve the symptoms of mental disorders. For instance, a recent study from Amad et al. in 2022 on the effects of learning to drum in autistic adolescents, found that learning how to drum greatly reduces hyperactivity and inattention in these individuals. In addition, they discovered that drumming greatly improves “functional connectivity in brain regions responsible for inhibitory control and action outcome monitoring” (Amad et al., 2022). Based on these findings, drumming is shown to have a significant impact on these individuals’ mental health and overall wellness.

Overall, drumming can be a crucial part of our health going forward. It can help us develop stronger neural connections by activating all parts of our brains, which can lead to more efficient learning, better memory, emotional regulation, and mental health.