How does music influence health?

Music has existed since ancient times. It is part of every known culture. It can make you move your feet, lift your mood and even help you evoke a distant memory. Did you know that music can have other health benefits? Scientists explore the different ways in which music stimulates and improves the health of the body and mind.

Music gets us moving and much more

“Listening to or creating music affects the way you think, feel, move and more”

Today, modern technologies are helping researchers learn more about how the brain works, which parts of the brain respond to music, and how music can help alleviate symptoms of certain diseases and conditions.

The brain in music – The brain is a complex processing centre. It is the control centre of the nervous system, the network of nerve cells that transmit messages to and from the body and the brain. A healthy brain tries to make sense of the world around it and the constant information it receives, including sound and music.

Sound is an important and profound force in our lives.  The more we exercise our brain’s processing of sound, the better the brain functions to make sense of sound and the world around us. Music does this more than any other sound.

Music and other sounds enter the ear as sound waves. These create vibrations in our eardrum that are transformed into electrical signals. The electrical signals travel along the auditory nerve to the auditory cortex of the brain. This area of the brain interprets sound as something we recognise and understand.

But music affects areas of the brain other than those that process sound. Using brain imaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, scientists have discovered that music affects other areas of the brain. When music stimulates the brain, flashes of bright light appear in the brain images. Studies have shown that music “lights up” areas of the brain involved in emotion, memory and even physical movement.

Music can help facilitate movement: Scientists are investigating whether music can help patients with motor disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease. Patients with this condition slowly lose their ability to walk and move over time.

Studies show that when music has a certain rhythm it can help people with Parkinson’s disease to walk. Another study looks at how dance compares to other types of exercise in people with Parkinson’s disease.

There is also evidence that music can be helpful for people with other conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, traumatic brain injury, stroke, aphasia, autism and hearing loss.

Strengthening the mind

Playing a musical instrument engages many parts of the brain at once. This can particularly benefit children and adolescents, whose brains are still developing. Introducing music to young children can positively influence their ability to concentrate, the way they act and their language development.

Many scientists studied how music training influences brain development. They found that music has positive effects on children’s learning abilities, even when the training begins in high school.

Adolescents showed biological changes in the brain after two years of participating in consistent music-making activities in school. These changes affect learning ability and can help improve reading and writing skills. These benefits can also be long-lasting.

Once you teach the brain to respond to sound effectively, it will continue to do so even after the music lessons end. A little music goes a long way, but the more music you listen to, the stronger the brain becomes.

Constant contact with music can also protect you from hearing loss as you get older. Naturally, we lose our hearing ability over time. In particular, it becomes more difficult to hear conversations in a noisy environment. But researchers have found that musicians are better able to distinguish a person’s voice in a noisy environment.