MUSIC
The science of music therapy is presenting increasing amounts of evidence that music is not just the mere sound of music...
Emotional benefits
The right song can put anybody into a better frame of mind and soothe jangled nerves. We all go through mood swings, and most of us turn to certain songs to improve our moods. The main reason behind this phenomenon is that music has the ability to verbalise and express our feelings better than any other medium. Additionally, we have favourite songs for particular situations because we tune into the melodies that capture our vibes the best.
To enhance the relationship between your emotional state and music, try creating associations among songs and moods. This way, when you feel a certain way, you will know exactly which song or CD to listen to in order to give you the lift or the calm you need at any given moment.
Music and exercise
Have you ever noticed how pumped up you get while listening to a fast track in the gym? But if you shift to an opera or a slow number, the intensity may go down. It has been suggested that stimulating music can actually increase muscle tension, while sedate music decreases muscle tension. It has also been documented that music can improve motor skills. An experiment conducted on a handful of elementary students proved that children learning basic motor skills such as throwing, catching and jumping while listening to music did better than those who practised the same exercises with no music.
Chronic Pain Relief
Music has the ability to ease the perception of chronic pain. According to a study, music can reduce chronic pain by 21 per cent. It was discovered in a test that people who listened MUSIC for an hour, each day, for a week, had improved physical and psychological symptoms compared to those who were deprived of music. As stated earlier, music can put you in a better mood, which can advance recovery time, since a positive-thinking patient almost always recovers better and faster than a patient with negative energy. Music shouldn't be considered a first-line treatment for chronic pain, but once medical treatment is underway, a healthy dose of your favourite track can help ease the suffering.
Sharper brain
The "Mozart effect" is a popular notion, in which it was demonstrated that listening to classical music, more specifically to a Mozart piano sonata, increased the measured results on the Stanford-Binet IQ test by eight to nine points. In a similar exercise, when rats were exposed to the same music, they responded with an improvement of their skills in a maze experiment.
The one underlying fact in all the research is that music plays a positive role in many areas of human development. Also, it is not known exactly what the specific effects of different rhythmic patterns play in each of the areas discussed here. Let's not forget pitch frequencies, harmonies and arrangements, amongst numerous other variables, that make music research difficult to pinpoint. The world of music is infinite, and establishing patterns in its effects might take a little longer than expected.
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