Music has been found to stimulate parts of the brain, and studies have demonstrated that music enhances the memory of Alzheimer's and dementia patients, including a study conducted at UC Irvine, which showed that scores on memory tests of Alzheimer's patients improved when they listened to classical music.
Music therapy, an intervention that involves regular meetings with a qualified music therapist, may help improve mood through emotional expression. Music therapy seems to reduce depressive symptoms and anxiety, and helps to improve functioning (e.g., maintaining involvement in jobs, activities, and relationships).
Listening to music was also found to be more effective than prescription drugs in reducing anxiety before surgery (Trends in Cognitive Sciences, April, 2013). Music also reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol. "This is one reason why music is associated with relaxation," Levitin says.
Research has revealed that music stimulates all areas of the brain. Because of this, music directly affects our senses, making it a multi-sensory experience, involving the auditory, visual, and tactile senses. As a result, music can have a direct impact on an individual's physical, emotional, and cognitive functioning.
“If you want to keep your brain engaged throughout the aging process, listening to or playing music is a great tool. It provides a total brain workout.” Research has shown that listening to music can reduce anxiety, blood pressure, and pain as well as improve sleep quality, mood, mental alertness, and memory.
Music can: Affect the body by changing heart rate and lowering blood pressure, body temperature, and respiration (breathing) rate. Help improve quality of life, lessen feelings of isolation, and provide an increased sense of control. Call up repressed (bottled up) emotions that may now be released.
Music therapy is used to aid in physical discomfort by improving respiration, lowering blood pressure, improved cardiac output, reduced heart rate and relaxed muscle tension. For mental health, this form of therapy is great for reducing stress' common negative side effects, such as emotional and behavioral problems.
A large number of studies have provided considerable evidence that music can decrease pain levels. Pain relief may occur by the release of endorphins or changes in catecholamine levels or, as patients are distracted by memories away from their pain.
Numerous scientific and psychological studies have shown that music can lift our moods, combat depression, improve blood flow in ways similar to statins, lower levels of stress-related hormones such as cortisol, and ease pain. Music can improve the outcomes for patients after surgery.
Benefits of music therapy include improved heart rate, reduced anxiety, stimulation of the brain, and improved learning. Music therapists use their techniques to help their patients in many areas, ranging from stress relief before and after surgeries to neuropathologies such as Alzheimer's disease.
Music as Medicine. Though acknowledging the role of music in addressing illness is not new, recent research is illuminating how music affects the brain and other body systems in a measurable way. Using that knowledge, practitioners can now integrate music with medicine to augment healing.
The earliest known reference to music therapy appeared in 1789: an article in Columbian Magazine titled Music Physically Considered. The first recorded music therapy intervention & systematic experiments in music therapy were conducted in the 1800s.
It's fine to fall asleep listening to music, Breus says, but don't wear earbuds or headphones to bed. They can be uncomfortable, and if you roll over wearing earbuds, you could hurt your ear canal. If you pick a nice, slow tune that doesn't rev you up emotionally, music may even help you get a good night's sleep.
Listening to music can help relieve stress and anxiety. It may also improves mood and help with one's overall well-being. In fact, music therapy is often used with progressive muscle relaxation to reduce anxiety. Progressive muscle relaxation involves relaxing the muscles through a two-step process.
A new study sheds light on what's going on inside our brains when we match our music to our feels, and it looks like sad music can be enjoyable - rather than simply depressing - because it triggers positive memories that can help to lift our mood.
Music is not only able to affect your mood -- listening to particularly happy or sad music can even change the way we perceive the world, according to researchers from the University of Groningen. However, such mood changes not only affect how you feel, they also change your perception.
Music Genres and Depression
The top genre for depressed listeners is rock, followed closely by alternative, pop, and hip-hop/rap. On the other end of the spectrum, blues is the least popular genre for people hoping to improve their moods.
