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How
Music Affects Us and Why Music Therapy Promotes Health
Research has shown that music has a
profound effect on your body and psyche. In fact, there’s a growing field of
health care known as music therapy, which uses music to heal. Those who
practice music therapy are finding a benefit in using music to help cancer
patients, children with ADD, and others, and even hospitals are beginning to
use music and music therapy to help with pain management, to help ward off
depression, to promote movement, to calm patients, to ease muscle tension, and
for many other benefits that music and music therapy can bring. This is not
surprising, as music affects the body and mind in many powerful ways. The
following are some of effects of music, which help to explain the effectiveness
of music therapy:
Brain Waves
Research has shown that music with a strong
beat can stimulate brainwaves to resonate in sync with the beat, with faster
beats bringing sharper concentration and more alert thinking, and a slower
tempo promoting a calm, meditative state. Also, research has found that the
change in brainwave activity levels that music can bring can also enable the
brain to shift speeds more easily on its own as needed, which means that music can
bring lasting benefits to your state of mind, even after you’ve stopped
listening.
Breathing and Heart Rate
With alterations in brainwaves come changes
in other bodily functions. Those governed by the autonomic nervous system, such
as breathing and heart rate can also be altered by the changes music can bring.
This can mean slower breathing, slower heart rate, and an activation of the
relaxation response, among other things. This is why music and music therapy
can help counteract or prevent the damaging effects of chronic stress, greatly
promoting not only relaxation, but health.
State of Mind
Music can also be used to bring a more
positive state of mind, helping to keep depression and anxiety at bay. This can
help prevent the stress response from wreaking havoc on the body, and can help
keep creativity and optimism levels higher, bringing many other benefits.
Other Benefits
Music has also been found to bring many
other benefits, such as lowering blood pressure (which can also reduce the risk
of stroke and other health problems over time), boost immunity, ease muscle
tension, and more. With so many benefits and such profound physical effects,
it’s no surprise that so many are seeing music as an important tool to help the
body in staying (or becoming) healthy.
Using Music Therapy
With all these benefits that music can
carry, it's no surprise that music therapy is growing in popularity. Many
hospitals are using music therapists for pain management and other uses. Music
therapists help with several other issues as well, including stress.
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