A healing therapy: Food for soul, music

How about a prescription for ear soothing music to fight and overcome stress and diseases? Sounds great isn’t it? Welcome to the world of music therapy. No matter if you have just had a break-up or have started with a new relationship, music is one element that fits in every situation of life. Then why not use it as a healing therapy?

A healing therapy Food for soul, music

Victor Hugo has rightly said: “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent”. Whether you accept it or not, music affects our daily life, as every human being responds to it.

An amalgamation of psychology and counselling, music can act as a healing therapy to cure several conditions like depression, personality issues, autism, cancer etc. In India, music has long been associated with healing as it is believed that some ‘ragas’ have a therapeutic effect. Be it the soothing melody of a flute, harmonium or guitar, music

can instantly put anyone in a good mood. But different kind of music works for different people and for different medical conditions. Here are a few health benefits of how music is food for your soul and health:

Decreases anxiety and stress

Research suggets that listening to religious music or the sound of the flute is associated with a decrease in anxiety levels and stress thereby providing a sense of control over an individual’s life.

Reduces pain

Want to relieve pain or beat stress? Face the music. You heard it right. Researchers believe that listening to music could help combat pain, relieve stress and even beat depression as it instantly uplifts your mood.

Helps lower blood pressure

Studies have shown that listening to peaceful music by closing your eyes and getting soaked in the world of sound can help you feel calm and relaxed and therby lowering blood pressure levels.

Good for heart health

Listening to music for half an hour is not just soothing for ears, but also good for the heart as good vibrations from the soothing music regulates heart rhythm along with slow and relaxed breathing and brain pattern.

Eases migraine and headaches

Music acts as a natural remedy that can help you get some instant relief from headache and migraine as it soothes the nerves of the brain providing relief.

Boosts immunity

It has been found that listening to good music actually sends a message to our brain to secrete positive and good hormones which boosts our immunity.

Improves concentration and memory

Have you ever noticed that we learn the lyrics of songs early but find it hard to remember other important things. This is so because music activates the brain instantly and helps in retention of information and improved concentration.

Source: zee news


Study says music makes people feel powerful

There’s scientific evidence to support what a lot of us have thought: Listening to music, particularly songs with a heavy bass line, may make a person feel more powerful.

Study says music makes people feel powerful

Scientists at Northwestern University first conducted a pre-test, in which they asked participants to listen to 30-second clips of 31 different songs from various genres. The researchers then rated the most and least powerful songs, based on how powerful the participants said the songs made them feel.

Next, the researchers observed how the highest and lowest power songs influenced the participants’ psychological and behavioral sense of power by having them carry out certain tasks. The participants were also asked about the feelings they experienced while carrying out the tasks.

The results of the study, published in the journal Social Psychological & Personality Science, revealed that when the participants listened to the songs rated most powerful, they felt the highest sense of power. Songs rated as most powerful included “We Will Rock You” by Queen and “Get Ready For This” by 2 Unlimited, while those found to be least empowering included “Because We Can” by Fatboy Slim and “Who Let the Dogs Out?” by Baha Men.

The study suggests that listening to a favorite song may help people feel empowered and more confident before going into an intimidating situation.

Source: health central


Music could help recover stroke victims

Music-Help-Stroke-Victims

Stroke victims could recover earlier if they take up any musical instrument, according to experts of Goldsmiths, University of London.

Dr Lauren Stewart, from the music, mind and brain team based in Goldsmiths’ Department of Psychology, said that despite a good deal of research into rehabilitation approaches, treatment options were limited, News.com.au reported.

Stewart further said that their research showed that playing a musical instrument could be an effective intervention for neglect patients.

Source: business standard


Inability to enjoy music recognized as a brain condition

For most people, music is one of life’s great pleasures. But the inability to enjoy it is a real condition that has just been recognized and described by science.

The new condition, known as specific musical anhedonia, is described in a new paper published this week in the journal Current Biology.

People with the condition have no trouble perceiving or identifying music, or even describing the mood the music is supposed to convey, said Robert Zatorre, a McGill University neuroscientist who co-authored the paper.

“They had no trouble saying, ‘Oh, well, this music is meant to be melancholy. This music is meant to be really happy.’ But they don’t experience it,” he told CBC’s Quirks & Quarks in an interview that airs Saturday. “They know that’s what it’s supposed to do for you. But they get no sensation out of it.”

He estimated that the condition affects about two per cent of the population. Many of those who have it said they have tried to mask their dislike of music from others.

“It’s sort of socially odd, right? Everyone wants to fit in and if they went to a party and there was music blaring, they would kind of go along with it and try to pretend that they liked it as much as everyone else did.”

Zatorre had previously done studies that showed music activates the pleasure and reward centres of the brain, just as food and sex do.

Scientists are interested in studying the brain’s reward system because problems with it are implicated in a lot of problems such as eating disorders and drug and gambling addictions.

Zatorre and colleagues in Spain, including Josep Marco-Pallares of the University of Barcelona, began to wonder if music activated the pleasure centre of the brain in everyone, or if there were some people who didn’t respond the same way.

Physiological response

To figure that out, they surveyed around 500 students at the University of Barcelona about their music habits and response to music — for example, did they often have music playing and did they like to share music with their friends?

Groups of students who scored high, average, and low on the questionnaire were tested in the lab for their body’s response to music — changes in heart rate and skin conductance, which indicate emotional or nervous system arousal.

While those who scored average or high on the questionnaire had a strong physiological response to the music, those who scored low “more or less flatlined,” Zatorre recalled, confirming that they did not derive pleasure from music.

The students were given additional questionnaires to make sure they weren’t depressed and were able to experience pleasure from other things.

Then they were tested in another experiment – a slot-machine-like gambling video game in which they would sometimes receive a big payout.

“People who didn’t respond to music nonetheless showed a perfectly normal response to the monetary reward,” Zatorre said.

That’s interesting because previously, researchers had thought the brain’s reward centre was an “all or none” system that was functioning normally, hyperactive, or underactive as a whole.

The new research suggests that the brain’s reward centre may react differently to different kinds of stimuli. That in turn has implications for the way researchers approach problems like drug addiction or eating disorders.

Source: cbc news


Making music videos ‘helps young cancer patients cope’

Music therapy can help teenagers and young people cope better when faced with treatment for cancer, a study in Cancer journal suggests.

American researchers followed the experiences of a group of patients aged 11-24 as they produced a music video over three weeks.

They found the patients gained resilience and improved relationships with family and friends.

All the patients were undergoing high-risk stem-cell transplant treatments.

To produce their music videos, the young patients were asked to write song lyrics, record sounds and collect video images to create their story.

They were guided by a qualified music therapist who helped the patients identify what was important to them and how to communicate their ideas.

When completed, the videos were shared with family and friends through “premieres”.

Positive effect
After the sessions, the researchers found that the group that made music videos reported feeling more resilient and better able to cope with their treatment than another group not offered music therapy.

Also, 100 days after treatment, the same group said they felt communication within their families was better and they were more connected with friends.

These are among several protective factors identified by researchers that they say help teenagers and young adults to cope in the face of cancer treatments.

Lead study author Dr Joan Haase, of Indiana University School of Nursing, said: “These protective factors influence the ways adolescents and young adults cope, gain hope and find meaning in the midst of their cancer journey.

“Adolescents and young people who are resilient have the ability to rise above their illness, gain a sense of mastery and confidence in how they have dealt with their cancer, and demonstrate a desire to reach out and help others.”

When researchers interviewed the patients’ parents, they found that the videos also gave them useful insights into their children’s cancer experiences.

Feel connected’
Sheri Robb, a music therapist who worked on the study, explained why music was particularly good at encouraging young people to engage.

She said: “When everything else is so uncertain, songs that are familiar to them are meaningful and make them feel connected.”

Cancer Research UK says music therapy can help people with cancer reduce their anxiety and improve their quality of life. It can also help to reduce some cancer symptoms and side-effects of treatment – but it cannot cure, treat or prevent any type of disease, including cancer.

Previous studies looking at the effects of music therapy on children with cancer found that it could help reduce fear and distress while improving family relationships.

A spokesperson for Teenage Cancer Trust said getting children with cancer to co-operate and communicate was most important.

“Every day in UK, around seven young people aged between 13 and 24 are diagnosed with cancer. We know that being treated alongside others their own age makes a huge difference to their whole experience, especially if it’s in an environment that allows young people with cancer to support each other.”

Source: BBC news


Playing music at young age can keep brain healthy

A new study has found that playing an instrument at a young age might make you healthier later in life.

Dr. Nina Kraus, professor of neurobiology at Northwestern University, said what is seen in an older adult who has made music is a biologically younger brain, Fox News reported.

Kraus said that the fact that your cognitive sensory reward system is so engaged in the process of playing music seems to strengthen those circuits that are worked for music …and those functions that are important for language.

The study is published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Source: ANI