Memory and music have a strong correlation. For example, patients with dementia experience a decline in memory and thinking skills that are so severe that everyday activities are a struggle. They have trouble remembering things like their family, address, and recent conversations. Music can help greatly with this. Hearing certain songs reminds patients of their childhood and can help them relate certain songs back to a single moment in their lives. By adding music to daily activities, people with dementia can more easily perform daily routines that they normally struggle to remember.
A recent study of over 330 subjects with dementia showed that music therapy produces improvements to social behaviors, decreases behaviors such as wandering and restlessness, reduces agitation, and improves cognitive abilities. Music and memory are also linked to learning during our younger years. Elementary-age students learn needed skills through music. Teachers use the ABC song to teach the alphabet, the state song for memorizing the 50 states, and the multiplication rap for learning multiplication facts. A person may memorize this song once, but he or she will still remember it years later. Research has shown increased verbal intelligence in children who use music to learn. It enhances the child’s ability to comprehend words and define their meaning. It is amazing what music and our minds can do when they are put together.
Patients with chronic pain or those experiencing surgical procedures can experience an ease in pain through music. When a patient with chronic pain listens to music, a chemical in the brain is released called opioids. Opioids can decrease pain and decrease the need for excessive amounts of medication to relieve pain. With music as treatment, people who experience chronic pain have fewer medications, leading to fewer side effects such as addiction and stomach problems.
Listening to music while dealing with chronic pain can also cause a patient’s mind to think about the music instead of the pain that they are enduring. Similar effects have been found in patients before and after surgical procedures. For example, those patients who listened to music rather than taking the pre-op medication, Midazolam, were able to become drowsy and relieved from anxiety without the side effects of coughing and vomiting that Midazolam often produces. After surgery, music can create a relaxing environment to keep patients calm and speed up recovery.
Music’s Role in Pain Management and Weight Loss
For those interested in weight loss or in healthy weight management, music can be a key weight loss factor. As previously stated, listening to upbeat music makes one feel energized due to the release of certain hormones and neurotransmitters. In a recent study, researchers found that runners who listened to fast music or slow motivational music actually ran faster and burned more calories in a shorter amount of time than those who listened to soothing music or no music at all. Research has also shown that listening to soft music while eating leads people to eat fewer calories and to actually savor their meals more. Sleep habits affect weight management as well. A study showed that students who listened to lulling classical music for 45 minutes before going to bed slept better than students who did not. Restful nights contribute to a healthy weight.
Music can also improve anxiety, stress, and depression. Just like chronic pain, music can shift a person’s mind to something more pleasant. Music can be a distraction from the daily strains and difficulties of life. Stress, anxiety, and depression can cause a person’s heart rate and nervous system to change negatively. When a person is stressed, the body and the organs inside the body feel stressed as well. Stress makes the body and its organs have to work harder, leading to more serious issues like strokes and heart attacks.
Music can be soothing and calming in chaotic situations. A prime example of music and stress relief can be found during childbirth. It has been shown that music will cause the mother to feel more relaxed during childbirth, making her less likely to experience postpartum depression after her child is born. For those suffering from anxiety and depression, music can suppress the nervous system, causing the brain to release endorphins, raise dopamine levels, and block pain pathways. All of this leads to a heightened feeling of well-being.
The Universality of Music’s Impact: Enriching Lives
Music can change and improve a person’s brain. Research says that learning to play an instrument can raise a person’s Intellectual Quotient, or IQ. Musically trained children and adults actually outperformed others on verbal memory tests. This same research has shown that the brains of people who are not musically inclined are different than musicians’ brains in both shape and power. The corpus callosum that connects both sides of the brain is actually larger. When playing an instrument, the player has to read and comprehend the music and manipulate the fine motor skills to play it. Researchers have also noted increased reaction time in musicians. Other benefits of learning to play an instrument include enhanced attention, organization, and self-discipline skills. Through research, music has been linked to a person’s improved ability to process multiple senses at once when making decisions and drawing conclusions, which are needed life skills.
Music is as diverse as the people who listen to it. People will hear it in their homes, during their daily commute, on their elevator journey to the office, and in traveling to all places of the world. Any type of music can impact a person in a positive way. With its variety of genres, tones, rhythms, and tempos, any music can affect a person’s emotions. Music is a natural medication or therapy for some patients. Therefore, patients with anxiety, stress, depression, chronic pain, memory loss, dementia, and more can benefit from music therapy. Music strengthens memory skills, leads to superior multisensory skills, and can also increase mental alertness and reaction time. Music is one of the most amazing things that life has to offer. Intelligence, health, and a person’s life are bettered by the sound of music.
References:
- Daily Mail. (2002). The science of sound: How music affects your mood and your mind.
- Harvard Health. (2018). Music and health. Harvard Health Publishing.
- Lifestyle. (2018). The psychology of music: How music affects your brain and mood.
- Good Therapy. (2015). What is music therapy? GoodTherapy.