Have you ever found yourself sitting on a train, staring out the window, and feeling transformed by a song playing in your earphones?
Music can do that, it’s a powerful, boundless force. Undoubtedly, it has a tangible effect on our brains and bodies.
While you may feel the therapeutic effects of music in your everyday life — while staring out of a train window, sitting in a Jazz club, or even just walking to work — those effects can be utilized in the healthcare setting as well. Music has been proven to have a significant and quantifiable impact on the lives of people with neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s and Dementia. It can also act as an anxiety and pain reducer for patients undergoing stressful surgeries or procedures. While you may feel the therapeutic effects of music in your everyday life — while staring out of a train window, sitting in a Jazz club, or even just walking to work — those effects can be utilized in the healthcare setting as well. Music has been proven to have a significant and quantifiable impact on the lives of people with neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s and Dementia. It can also act as an anxiety and pain reducer for patients undergoing stressful surgeries or procedures.
The benefits of both listening to and playing music are tremendous, and are rooted in a rich history that stretches back hundreds of years. Only recently have we begun to acknowledge those advantages in the realms of physical, psychological, and behavioral health, and to understand the neurological impact music has on the human brain. In this article, we will explore some of the ways relaxing music improves brain function by enhancing memory, relieving pain and anxiety, and eliciting positive emotions in those who listen to it.
Music Sparks Memory
Even for people in the late-stages of Alzheimer’s disease, music can trigger an emotional, visceral response – bringing memories back to those who struggle to remember the most important pieces of their lives. Recently, a sentimental video of Marta González, a former ballerina with Alzheimer’s, has been circulating the internet. The video shows Marta sitting in her wheelchair and hearing Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake.” As soon as the sound swells into her headphones, she begins to move her hand with the rise and fall of the violins a poignant look of recognition passes over her face, and she’s suddenly dancing. It is as if the music brought her back into her body.
People like Marta have been central to discussions regarding the link between music and memory. It is clear from just watching the former ballerina’s movement that there is something special about the way music sparks memory in the brain – especially for those suffering from neurodegenerative diseases, who have trouble recalling even the names of loved ones.
How can music trigger memory? We often associate a certain song with a specific experience, and that association can carry very potent feelings. Personally, every time I hear “Holocene” by Bon Iver, I am transported back to a grassy hilltop in Alaska, where I listened to the song with a group of close friends. Certain songs and genres can also elicit a general atmosphere of familiarity for me, softer, acoustic music feels like fall, and upbeat garage-rock suggests summer.
According to Rohani Omar, “In the realm of human memory, there is a basic neuropsychological distinction between memory for events – or episodic memory – and memory for objects and concepts – semantic memory” (2012, p. 467). In terms of musical memory, both of these types are at play while episodic memory concerns the recollection of the context in which a piece was heard, semantic memory concerns the recollection of the familiarity of a piece (Clark & Warren, 2015).
Episodic and semantic memory are both forms of long-term memory, which gradually erodes as diseases like Alzheimer’s and Dementia progress. However, our memory of music seems to be an exception to the rule – or a possible remedy to the damage. According to Devere, “musical perception, musical emotion, and musical memory can survive long after other forms of memory and cognitive function have disappeared” (2017, para. 7). While the extent of music’s potential as a therapy for neurodegenerative diseases is not yet defined, it is undeniable that it plays a vital role in cognitive health.
Music for Pain and Stress Relief
Listening to relaxing music can also serve as a therapy for general and acute pain related to healthcare. A pilot study evaluating its impact on quality and length of life, physical status, and death in hospice patients with terminal cancer found that the interventions were effective (Hilliard, 2003, p. 134). Comparing a control group and an experimental group receiving music therapy determined that listening to even just 20 minutes of instrumental music reduced patients’ pain, and that repeated sessions were increasingly effective (p. 131).
Music therapy works because the neurological pathways utilized in the processing of music are the same pathways that process pain if you are busy concentrating on your favorite Beethoven piece, you will be too occupied to focus on physical pain. Music therapy works because the neurological pathways utilized in the processing of music are the same pathways that process pain if you are busy concentrating on your favorite Beethoven piece, you will be too occupied to focus on physical pain.
Stress is also becoming an increasingly widespread and predominant issue as humanity deals with the COVID-19 pandemic the stress of social isolation, fear for the lives of ourselves and our loved ones, and drastic changes to our daily routines is manifesting in us both physiologically and psychologically. Data shows that there have been detrimental impacts on both mental health and substance abuse. Stress is also becoming an increasingly widespread and predominant issue as humanity deals with the COVID-19 pandemic the stress of social isolation, fear for the lives of ourselves and our loved ones, and drastic changes to our daily routines is manifesting in us both physiologically and psychologically. Data shows that there have been detrimental impacts on both mental health and substance abuse.
The commonly accepted treatment for depression, anxiety, and stress-management is medication – but music can serve as a supplemental or alternative method of healing. “Current findings indicate that music around 60 beats per minute can cause the brain to synchronize with the beat causing alpha brain waves (frequencies from 8-14 hertz or cycles per second.) This alpha brainwave is what is present when we are relaxed and conscious” (Releasing Stress Through the Power of Music | Counseling Services, n.d.) Listening to relaxing music for a longer period of time can also ease our brains into sleep.
Emotion: The Core of Music
After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.
-Aldous Huxley
Music at Night: and Other Essays
The subject of emotion is unavoidable in any discussion of the cognitive benefits of music. Emotion is at the very core of music, it puts into words what we cannot. Yes, it is possible to listen to or create music with mild interest, but it is much more common for the artist or listener to approach music with the intent of being moved.
Emotion is fundamental. Patrik Juslin explores this concept in its totality in his book Musical Emotions Explained: Unlocking the Secrets of Musical Effect. Basically, “…our emotional experiences with music tell a story about who we are – both as individuals and as a species. At the individual level, musical emotions reflect our memories, experiences, preferences, motivations, interests, and personality traits. At the biological level, the emotions reflect our human ability to interpret and use sound as a source of information in order to guide future behaviors” (2019, p. 10). Emotion is fundamental. Patrik Juslin explores this concept in its totality in his book Musical Emotions Explained: Unlocking the Secrets of Musical Effect. Basically, “…our emotional experiences with music tell a story about who we are – both as individuals and as a species. At the individual level, musical emotions reflect our memories, experiences, preferences, motivations, interests, and personality traits. At the biological level, the emotions reflect our human ability to interpret and use sound as a source of information in order to guide future behaviors” (2019, p. 10).
Conclusion
Music may in many ways remain a mystery to our species – but we do know it is a blessing. Its cultural, physical, cognitive, and emotional benefits are plentiful and vast. As we begin to unravel the workings of music on the human brain, we will continue to discover its potential for healing. But you don’t have to be a scientist to understand the importance of music to our minds and bodies.
Next time you find yourself on a train, put on a beautiful song, stare out the window, and allow yourself to be engulfed by the sound. I guarantee that you will feel something significant.