"Listening to Music"
What types of music do you enjoy? Did you know your favorite tunes can function as more than a stimulus for foot-tapping? Music can be part of your medical treatment. Seriously. Of course, not all songs help with maladies. I suggest avoiding the songs, “Who Let the Dogs Out” and “Baby Shark” if you are already feeling ill. However, music-as-therapy has ancient roots and is being reevaluated in modern research. Apparently, Rob Seger’s lyrics in “Old Time Rock and Roll” have some merit after all: “Still like that old time rock 'n' roll; That kind of music just soothes the soul.” How does music have such a profound effect upon us? Can it in some way really soothe our soul, mind or body?
The answer is—drum roll, please—yes! Music is currently used as therapy to improve people’s lives in many ways. It can address physical, social, or emotional needs. Music can be used as treatment because it impacts both our brains and our bodies. Even before birth, our song begins. Newborn babies react happily if the same music they heard in the womb is played. Infants move to music and can be soothed to sleep by gentle lullabies. Certainly toddlers do not need lessons to enjoy rhythm or respond to music by dancing. On the other end of the age spectrum, music therapy is being used successfully in geriatric care. Ruth Bright, who pioneered music therapy in Australia, found music therapy especially useful with people with dementia. Since funeral dirges ease the grief of mourners, music brings comfort from before the cradle to after the grave.
Music is ingrained in our nature and we respond physiologically to it. Therefore, music can be used by health professionals as one more “medicine” for a wide-range of illnesses. More conveniently, you can use music to help yourself.
If you struggle with insomnia, listening to relaxing music before you try to sleep can improve the quality of sleep as well as help you fall sleep faster. Evidence demonstrates music also helps children and premature infants to calm down. If you need to relax, choose a slow tempo such as many classical numbers. If you enjoy irony, you could choose “Spoonful of Sugar” by Julie Andrews. Then, you will be making “the medicine go down” by listening!
Additionally, music solves problems related to concentration difficulties. Research shows attention skills at work or school are improved with music playing in the background. Music with a pronounced beat stimulates brainwaves, causing them to resonate in sync with the beat. Thus, faster beats actually cause better focus. The ideal beat-per-minute appears to be 60, which is found in Baroque music. This beat pattern “activates both the right and left side of the brain, enabling the brain to process information more easily.”* This phenomenon is referred to as the “Mozart Effect.” If Baroque music is not your style, perhaps “Stayin’ Alive” by Bee Gees would work. The remarkable fact about this song is it has been used to train medical professionals to administer the correct number of chest compressions per minute! CPR needs 100-120. The song has about 104 beats per minute. How fitting! A song about staying alive is really helping people stay alive!
Take two songs and call the doctor in the morning if you are stressed. Music promotes relaxation which in turn, promotes health. This is because bodily functions are impacted by alterations in brainwaves. The autonomic nervous system (such as breathing and heart rate) can be altered through music. A slower heart rate will alleviate effects of chronic stress. Music can also lower blood pressure, reducing the risk of stroke. One of your song choices could be Tim McGraw’s, “Live Like You Were Dying”! This song tells the story of a father advising his son to truly live life to the fullest.
Music is also the “pill” you need if you are anxious or depressed. Music-medicine is ideal since there are no undesirable side effects. Uplifting sounds can create an optimistic state of mind; and positive lyrics can encourage a better mental state. In fact, hospitals are experimenting with music to help reduce chronic pain and to put patients at ease. In Finland, researchers discovered the memory of stroke patients improved by listening to music. Music therapists specialize in the clinical use of music interventions. Though instead of having someone in a lab coat select my music, I think I will simply listen in the comfort of my home. For inspiration, I can play Travis Tritt’s, “Great Day to be Alive.” I may or may not be dancing along to it. Either way, it is a definite mood-enhancer!
From three-thousand years ago, comes a story of how music is also calming to the spirit. Saul, a King of Israel, was tormented by a harmful spirit according to I Samuel 16:23. “Whenever the spirit came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the harmful spirit would leave him.” Music’s effects are powerful and seem to reach our very soul.
Plato summed up the influence of music: “Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue.” So whether you are feeling weary in mind, body, or spirit, turn up the music. There are no hospital gowns to wear, no lab tests, and no costly medical fees for this type of primordial healing.
Reflection:
How could you use music to feel better?
Why do you think music is so ingrained in us? Thought provoking, isn’t it?
* https://www.brainhq.com/blog/top-12-brain-based-reasons-why-music-as-therapy-works/
* https://www.verywellmind.com/how-and-why-music-therapy-is-effective-3145190