How Does Music Affect Your Body and Mind?

September 17, 2020 Stan

Music is not just a set of sounds and rhythms. Its influence on the brain is much deeper than any other human experience. Keep on reading to know all truly enigmatic powers of music.

Music helps preterm babies

Preterm babies appear to experience less pain and feed more when listening to music, a recent study suggests. Experts led by Dr. Manoj Kumar of the University of Alberta, Canada, analyzed nine clinical trials and found that music had a beneficial effect on lessening pain for preterm babies undergoing painful procedures such as heel prick blood tests. It also appeared to benefit full-term babies during operations.

Premature infants have to stay longer under medical supervision to gain weight and get stronger. To accelerate this process, many hospitals fall back on calm, pleasant music. Canadian scientists discovered that music reduces pain sensitivity and improves the sucking reflex in such babies, contributing to the weight gain. Music is also a good way to get newborns off to sleep.

Music helps to recover from brain injuries

Many people experienced cerebral damage have speech and movement-related problems. As an alternative and effective treatment, doctors often recommend such patients to listen to good music to stimulate the parts of the brain responsible for these two functions. When people with neurological disorders caused by a stroke or Parkinson’s disease hear a musical beat, it helps them to regain a symmetrical walk and sense of equilibrium.

Music staves off the loss of hearing

Surely, music will not cure deafness but it really can prevent the loss of hearing. There was an experiment involving 163 people where 74 were musicians.

Participants were asked to pass some listening tests. Musicians heard the sounds better than non-musicians, and this difference gets more evident with aging. This means that a 70-year-old musician hears better than a 50-year-old non-musician, even in a noisy environment.

Music heals a broken heart

No, it is not about a cast-off love, but about a heart attack. The matter is music can help people recovering from a heart seizure or cardiac surgery by reducing blood pressure, slowing down the heartbeat rate, and relieving anxiety. Listening to the quality music evokes positive emotions, improves circulation, and expands blood vessels, thus, promoting quick rehabilitation of the whole cardiovascular system.

Use the power of upbeat songs you associate with positive memories, preferably from your more distant past when you felt safe, on top of your game, and happy. Avoid songs that even remotely pull you into the emotions of your breakup. Train your brain out of its funk by listening often and with intent.

So, friends, listen to first-class music and be healthy, physically and mentally alike!