Music: The Body and Mind Connection

Reach over and flip on the radio….BOOM…it’s a song you remember from your childhood, a song where you played it and then played it 20 more times, a song that takes you to a specific moment in time shared by you and someone special to you. In an instant you are transported back to that place. Not only does music reach your heart and mind, but music can have an impact on your body as well. More and more research is being done into the benefits of music, and some of it is pretty astounding.

In studies mentioned in a Harvard article on “Music and Health in the Gaps”, doctors are finding that music can have an impact on how neurons in the brain work. Music has shown to slow the heart rate, reduce blood pressure, and decrease stress hormones. It has also been shown to help lower the immune system’s inflammatory response.

There have been studies done where cataract patients with similar blood pressure readings were divided in half. Half of the patients listened to music during cataract surgery and half did not. The group that did not have music playing while having surgery had higher blood pressure readings during the surgery, than the ones that had music throughout the procedure. Further, the ones with the music playing felt calmer and more relaxed during surgery. Even in a dentist office, where many people experience anxiety and fear, music can help to reduce the level of these emotions. If someone you support or you, yourself, have dental anxiety, it may be helpful to talk to the dentist about bringing in an iPod of favorite music to listen to while having exams, cleanings, or dental work done.

One study headed by Dr. Schlaug, Director of Music and Neuroimaging Laboratory, Stroke Recovery Laboratory, and Division Chief of Cerebrovascular Diseases at Harvard, utilizes the use of Melodic Intonation Therapy for stroke victims. When the left side of the brain is affected by stroke, the Broca area that controls speech may experience damage. Therefore, someone’s speech could be impacted. Initially some participants who had difficulty with speech, couldn’t speak more than 2-3 words. They could, however, sing! After using intensive speech therapy-90 minute sessions, daily for 15 weeks, they were able to regain some level of speech. The words were taught in a singsong fashion. Through this type of therapy, the right side of the brain, the “singing area” is being rewired to pick up the duty of helping with speech.

Music has also been shown to help people with depression and anxiety, Parkinson’s, Autism, and Dementia. If you have ever had an opportunity to see the documentary Alive Inside, you can understand the depths that music can move through someone and awaken parts of the brain that had been thought to be lost. In this documentary, mp3 players are given to people with dementia, some with moderate dementia, others so severe that they could barely speak. Once the mp3 players were introduced to them, they began to process the sounds. The music touched something deep inside their brain. They began to share memories, sing to the songs, dance to the music – they were “alive inside” again. A really impactful message in this documentary is that the medical community is more likely to order medications and use pharmacological treatment, at an astronomical cost. But, they are less inclined to look at an alternative therapy of music at the cost of an mp3 player. I would think the side effects of music would be minimal compared to large number of medications prescribed and their interactions.

Click on this link below to a site from University of Central Florida with different information on music and the brain. There is also an interactive tool that allows you to see the different areas of the brain and how they respond to music. https://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/your-brain-on-music/

A quote from Victor Hugo sums it up.