Music has been scientifically proven to have a powerful effect on the brain. Recent research shows that music can help in many aspects of the brain, including pain reduction, stress relief, memory, and brain injuries. In the book The Power of Music, Elena Mannes says, “Scientists have found that music stimulates more parts of the brain than any other human function.” Let’s look at some of the ways music can aid in the healing and stimulation of the human brain.
“I
think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity.
It’s something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we’re from,
everyone loves music.” —Billy Joel
A 2014 study found
that music was helpful for patients with fibromyalgia. The study showed that
listening to relaxing music of the patient’s choice “reduced pain and increased
functional mobility significantly.” Researchers believe that music eases pain
because listening to it triggers opioids—the body’s natural pain relievers. In
a 2013 study, people given the opioid blocking drug Naltrexone experienced less
pleasure while listening to their favorite song, suggesting music activates the
release of pain-relieving opioids.
Stress Relief
Depending
on the type of music you listen to, relaxing music can alleviate stress by
lowering cortisol levels, which is the hormone released in response to stress.
A 2013
study demonstrates a link between music and decreased stress in
pediatric emergency room patients. “In the trial with 42 children ages 3 to 11,
University of Alberta researchers found that patients who listened to relaxing
music while getting an IV inserted reported significantly less pain, and some
demonstrated significantly less distress, compared with patients who did not
listen to music,” according to the American Psychological Association.
Memory
Studies
linking music to memory recall have increased since the early 20th century,
when the research first emerged. Listening to certain music can take your mind
back decades in an instant. In a previous blog post we published, titled “Studies Prove Music Boosts Brain Activity in Alzheimer’s
Patients,” we cited the documentary Alive Inside,
which chronicled how music awakened patients suffering from memory loss.
Neurologist Oliver Sacks said, “Music evokes emotion, and emotion can
bring with it memory. … It brings back the feeling of life when nothing else
can.”
A 2014
study was conducted on 89 patients with dementia, where the
patient and caregivers were randomly assigned either a 10-week music listening
coaching group, a 10-week singing coaching group, or regular care. The results
showed that “compared with usual care, both singing and music listening
improved mood, orientation, and remote episodic memory and to a lesser extent,
also attention and executive function and general cognition. Singing also
enhanced short-term and working memory and caregiver well-being, whereas music
listening had a positive effect on quality of life.”
Seizure, Brain Injury, or Stroke
It
has been reported that the brains of patients with epilepsy respond differently
to music than people who do not have epilepsy. “Persons with epilepsy
synchronize before a seizure. However, in our study, patients with epilepsy
synchronized to the music without having a seizure,” said Christine
Charyton, of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Charyton
explained that stress causes seizures to occur and added, “By listening to the
music, many patients reported that they felt relaxed.”
Stroke
patients who listened to music in the early stages after a stroke showed an
improvement in recovery according to a 2008 study. Author of the study, Teppo
Särkämö, suggested that patients start listening to music soon after the
stroke, as many changes occur during the first weeks and months of recovery.
“We found that three months after the stroke, verbal memory improved from the
first week post-stroke by 60 percent in music listeners,” said Särkämö.
In
1973 a music-based treatment called Melodic
Intonation Therapy was developed to help stroke survivors or
people who suffer with aphasia to be able to communicate again. The purpose of
the therapy is to convert singing into speech. According to Research
and Hope, even though these patients aren’t able to speak, “they are often
able to sing, sometimes with the same fluency and clarity they had before the
onset of illness.”
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