The Ability of Music to Alleviate Health

Music is simply a variation of sounds put together to create rhythm, harmony and melody. We involve it in our daily lives to suit our state of mind whether we are feeling optimistic and bright or are needing a relatable source of comfort when feeling dull and isolated from the world surrounding us. The question is, can it alleviate both our physical and mental health? No matter what stage you are going through in life, change can always be frightening and no doctor, gym instructor or even a therapist fully understand the way you are feeling which is why music is a true way of connecting to the heart and soul.

Depression is one of the many conditions which can be uplifted by music. It can allow you to take time away from the monotony of the day to day life and understand that it is okay to feel the emotions that are built up inside of you. Inner acceptance is a huge step towards happiness, and music has been proved to do this as a study by the British Journal of Psychiatry gave 46 patients with depression their usual therapy and 33 patients had an additional 20 music sessions which lasted one hour. The results were far greater as the 33 patients who had the extra therapy reduced depression symptoms by 24% more than the standard therapy group in a space of three months. It is important to consider these methods because depression can make someone’s life a living misery, sometimes so severe that they no longer see the purpose in life which can lead to self harm and suicide. Not only does this affect their life but their family members, friends and lovers.

Another benefit of listening to music is the physical impacts it has on the human brain. Sounds with different volumes and pitches are processed through a small part of the brain called the Auditory Cortex. If the music your listening to is enjoyable, a chemical called Dopamine is released from the Striatum part of your brain and when your favourite Taylor Swift line is about to come up, your levels of Dopamine dramatically increase. These chemicals are also released when you eat food, take drugs or have sex. Playing music however, is a whole other story. Brain scans have proven that musicians have different formed brains than non musicians as both left and right sides are more symmetrical with areas responsible for spatial coordination, auditory processing and motor control at a larger size scale. The area in between the two hemispheres of the brain, called the Corpus Callosum is also larger and has the role of delivering messages between the two which might mean musicians are better problem solvers than people that don’t play an instrument. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees that music alleviates our health as many issues have been addressed. One example would be the adverse effect earphones have on your hearing. According to the New York Times, “once you jump to 100 decibels, more than 15 minutes of regular listening becomes unsafe”. A volume at this height damages tiny hair cells that are part of your inner ear, known as the Cochlea. Once these hairs are destroyed, the brain won’t be able to receive sound messages or in other words, you will lose hearing either partially or all together. Doesn’t sound good does It? No pun intended, however by reducing listening time and maintaining a volume of 60%, this issue can be completely avoidable. Not only does music effect the brain, but it also gives us the motivation we need to push ourselves and improve our physique. It’s almost as if music puts us under a trance that distracts our brains from aching pain and exhaustion, leading to the belief that we can keep going. This means that we are exercising at a higher effort for longer periods of time, making workouts more effective. This was proven by researchers at Brunel University who revealed that music can enhance our endurance by 15%. We are also more productive when we synchronise our pace of exercising with the rhythm of the music, so usually fast paced songs are the way to go.

We all get old at some point, and when we do we will most likely forget what we done yesterday or have trouble reading the Sunday newspaper without glasses however, can you imagine forgetting your own child’s name? An elderly man named Henry who was diagnosed with dementia was visited by his daughter every few days however not a word would escape his mouth. As soon as his favourite Gospel music was played to him through headphones, he started singing as a way of expressing emotion from memories of his past. Afterwards he could answer questions about his youth and shown significant improvement. This just proves how effectively music triggers parts of the brain which remain unaffected by dementia and the engagement it has through singing and dancing. Many elders feel going to a home is degrading because everything is done for them and they feel their sense of freedom has been taken away which can lead to frustration and aggression. Music has a way of soothing them as stress hormone levels are lowered and it may trigger the release of Oxytocin, a hormone which boosts the body’s ability to tolerate pain. It is important that we alleviate the symptoms of dementia as there is no long term cure and by 2021, there will be an estimated 1 million people suffering from it. Not only that but music brings the patients and their families together and without it, they would both feel hopeless and isolated.

In conclusion, music can be used to improve both physical and mental psychological health as it uplifted depression, develops the brain, improves our physique and alleviates dementia. As a whole, music is a very fundamental part of human life and has been since the beginning of our time. It’s in our nature to express ourselves to others from the very first forms of communication to where we are now. We automatically respond to music by creating movement or sound as if it’s wired in us so why not use it to our advantage? The old saying “mind over matter” actually takes a toll when it comes to music because it connects to our inner selves and weakens any physical problems in the body. If only hospitals could prescribe personalised music to those who want a distraction from any pain or stress then we could lessen the suffering in many individuals.