A Future Where Doctors Prescribe Playlists Instead Of Pills

Here’s what a recent study revealed about the fight against diabetes

At just 14, Noémie Galuszka, a Belgian teenager carries responsibilities, unlike most teens. She battles daily with Type 1 diabetes.

Noémie’s routine is rigorous: four blood tests and two insulin injections every day. It’s not just a physical burden. It’s an emotional one. She feels it’s unfair that she has this condition when she didn’t do anything to deserve it.

She and another 9 million people (with Type 1 diabetes) have to go through this painful routine every day. Insulin is challenging to administer orally because it is a protein that is easily destroyed in the stomach. So the most effective way to do it is by injection.

But what if there was an alternative to make their lives much easier?

Here’s a study with music as the unexpected ally in this battle.

It’s more than a scientific breakthrough.

It’s a cultural shift.

A quick overview of diabetes

If you know all about this chronicle illness, skip this part.

Imagine your body is a car, and glucose (a type of sugar) in your blood is the fuel. For this fuel to get into the car’s engine (your body’s cells) where it’s needed for energy, you need a key. That key is insulin, a hormone produced by your pancreas.

In people with diabetes, there’s a problem with this key:

• In Type 1 diabetes, the body doesn’t make the key (insulin) at all. It’s like having a car with no key.
• In Type 2 diabetes, the key doesn’t work well. The car’s lock is jammed, so the fuel can’t get into the engine efficiently.

Why is diabetes important?

When your body’s cells don’t get enough of this fuel, it leads to high levels of sugar in your blood. This can cause a lot of problems: fatigue, thirst, frequent urination, blurred vision, but also heart disease.

So managing diabetes is all about keeping your blood sugar levels in check. Too much or too little fuel in the blood should be avoided. To manage this, people need to resort to a mix of meds (e.g. insulin injections for Type 1 diabetes), lifestyle changes, diet, and regular monitoring. It’s a long-term change in your life.

But the results from the following study can change these patient’s lives drastically.

We can now turn cells into tiny healthcare DJs

Researchers from the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich have found a way to engineer human cells so that they start pumping out insulin whenever they ‘hear’ music.

The researchers genetically modified pancreatic β cells which enables them to respond to mechanical stimulation from sound waves. When these cells react, they release insulin.

They’ve essentially been turned into supercells.

These DJ scientists used the speakers you might have at home to deliver sound therapy to the cells. They tested different genres, from low-bass heavy pop and movie soundtracks to classical and guitar music. But Queen’s “We Will Rock You” worked best.

This song made the cells go wild, releasing insulin like it was confetti at a New Year’s party.

The results from this study are astounding.

• Cells release insulin fast and effectively, especially with the right tunes. Nearly 70% of insulin was released within the first 5 minutes of music exposure, and the release was complete within 15 minutes.
• The best frequency to trigger this insulin release was around 50–100 Hz. At this frequency range cells showed the highest insulin release, exceeding even the response to potassium chloride, the gold-standard positive chemical depolarisation control.
• After depleting their insulin stores, the cells needed about 4 hours to fully refill. This offers the potential for multiple daily dosing.

Think what this will do to diabetic patients like Noémie.

They can now manage their blood sugar by just tuning into their favorite playlist. No more needles, no constant monitoring. Just music. You’re literally jamming your way to better health, how amazing is that?

Scientists have also added two failsafe mechanisms.

Firstly, the cells require continuous music stimulation for at least 3 seconds to activate, ensuring that random, brief sounds in everyday environments don’t inadvertently trigger insulin release.

Secondly, after insulin is released, the cells need about 4 hours to refill with insulin, which acts as a buffer against the risk of releasing too much insulin too quickly which could lead to hypoglycemia.

Thus, there’s no risk of overdosing on music.

For the future

The study suggests that low-bass heavy music works wonders. So future tracks should have deep and resonating bass lines.

This leads us to think of music’s role in health in a broader sense. A future where doctors prescribe playlists instead of pills might be possible. Not for every disease of course, but for certain illnesses like this one.

We might also see personalized sound therapy, where the patient’s treatment includes finding the tunes that their cells groove to the best.

We won’t be just making diabetes management more bearable, but more aligned with the patient’s lifestyle.

Who wouldn’t want to sync their insulin needs with their favorite playlist?

There’s more to sound than meets the ear and we’re just scratching the surface.

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