Savannah
It’s no surprise that music is an art form that resonates with so many people. There are so many genres and subgenres that there is a type of music out there for anyone. Music does much more than provide entertainment or background noise. In fact, music has seemingly endless health benefits.
At the Beth Israel Medical Center’s Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine, there was a study conducted by researchers with 272 premature babies 32 weeks gestation or older in 11 mid-Atlantic NICUs. The researchers studied three types of music: a gato box, a Remo ocean disc, and a lullaby that the baby’s parents chose and sang. Singing proved to be the most effective as slowing a baby’s heart rate, as well as increasing the amount of time that a baby stayed quietly alert. The lead author of the study, Joanne Loewy, said, “There’s just something about music—particularly live music—that excites and activates the body.” According to Amy Novotney of the American Psychological Association, Loewy is part of “a growing movement of music therapists and psychologists who are investigating the use of music in medicine to help patients dealing with pain, depression, and possibly even Alzheimer’s disease.”
Many have participated in research similar to Loewy’s. Daniel Levitin, PhD, a psychologist studying neuroscience at McGill University, and his postgraduate research fellow Mona Lisa Chanda, PhD, did a meta-analysis of 400 studies about music’s benefits for mental and physical health. This means they looked at the results of a large amount of studies and combined the data towards a single conclusion. Doing this, they discovered that music could reduce stress and also improve the body’s immune system function. In Trends in Cognitive Sciences in April of 2013, music was found to be more effective at reducing anxiety before surgery than prescription drugs.
Sure there are benefits for patients, but what about other people? Well, listening to classical music has been shown to effectively treat insomnia in college students. Plus, research in 2013 by Ferguson and Sheldon showed that people that were actively trying to feel happier while they listened to upbeat classical compositions by Aaron Copland felt their moods lift more than people only passively listening to music. In Sharon Bryant’s article, she writes, “This suggests that engaging with music, rather than allowing it to wash over us, gives the experience extra emotional power.” This shows that music has an effect on any person, not just on patients for medical reasons.
For people who go a little bit further into their education with music, there are other benefits. In “Musical Training Helps Language Processing, Studies Show,” by Lisa Trei for Stanford News, Trei writes, “Much like expert technical skills, mastery in arts and humanities is closely correlated to a greater understanding of language components.” The July 2014 Harris Poll showed that 80% of Americans believe that their music education has helped their level of personal fulfillment.
The amount of benefits that music has are endless. Everyone can benefit from it in some way or another, whether it’s their mental health or their physical health. Its significance can be seen not only in its prevalence in our lives, but also in the many ways it can help people.
 |
| https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d6/c2/a7/d6c2a7ea61a34ed5e847de106717bdc5.jpg |
Many have participated in research similar to Loewy’s. Daniel Levitin, PhD, a psychologist studying neuroscience at McGill University, and his postgraduate research fellow Mona Lisa Chanda, PhD, did a meta-analysis of 400 studies about music’s benefits for mental and physical health. This means they looked at the results of a large amount of studies and combined the data towards a single conclusion. Doing this, they discovered that music could reduce stress and also improve the body’s immune system function. In Trends in Cognitive Sciences in April of 2013, music was found to be more effective at reducing anxiety before surgery than prescription drugs.
 |
| The Crested Butte Festival Orchestra |
For people who go a little bit further into their education with music, there are other benefits. In “Musical Training Helps Language Processing, Studies Show,” by Lisa Trei for Stanford News, Trei writes, “Much like expert technical skills, mastery in arts and humanities is closely correlated to a greater understanding of language components.” The July 2014 Harris Poll showed that 80% of Americans believe that their music education has helped their level of personal fulfillment.
The amount of benefits that music has are endless. Everyone can benefit from it in some way or another, whether it’s their mental health or their physical health. Its significance can be seen not only in its prevalence in our lives, but also in the many ways it can help people.
Works Cited
Benefits of Learning and Playing Music for Adults
Through writing this article I realized the extent to which music has a medical benefit. I always knew that it did have benefits, but I didn't know that it could help patients with pain or that there was a possibility that it would help people with Alzheimer's disease. With this new information I feel that music has to chance to be even more significant in my life and knowing that it has such powerful qualities makes me want to work to provide the best performances that I can.
Through writing this article I realized the extent to which music has a medical benefit. I always knew that it did have benefits, but I didn't know that it could help patients with pain or that there was a possibility that it would help people with Alzheimer's disease. With this new information I feel that music has to chance to be even more significant in my life and knowing that it has such powerful qualities makes me want to work to provide the best performances that I can.
No comments:
Post a Comment