The Amazing benefits of playing and listening to music!

If you experience relaxation when listening or performing classical music, there is likely, according to recent studies, more to it than just a pleasant experience. Dr Susan M. Lark, MD, a specialist in preventive and clinical medicine, stated that studies show that music causes definite physical effects in the body, processes which may actually reduce stress, heal illness and increase our wellness.  Dr Lark, who serves on the clinical faculty of Stanford University Medical School and has written 9 books about wellness, noted many positive effects of listening and/or playing music and these results have been confirmed in many studies.

Here are some of the positive effects of music, both listeners and musicians can enjoy:

According to a wealth of research, listening to classical music and/or playing music or even taking music lesson, will not only increase our quality of life but might actually increase our lifespan as well developing and/or healing and/or preserving our brains.

Other articles about the Healing power of music:

Singing boosts your immune system:

Belt out a tune. In a study done by Robert Beck, PhD, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Irvine, levels of an infection-fighting antibody called IgA increased 240 percent in the saliva of choral members performing Beethoven's "Missa Solemnus" Sing along with the radio or in church or in the shower. Also try Karaoke to stay healthier!

Source: article on MSNBC

In pain? Try music plus guided imagery

Simply listening to music for 1 hour a day can ease your pain by 20%, Cleveland Clinic researchers recently found. It can even reduce the need for pain medication before and after surgery. Music seems to stimulate the release of pain-masking endorphins in the brain, says Cheryl Dileo, a music therapy professor and director of the Arts and Quality of Life Research Center at Temple University. Music can also amplify the effects of a visualization exercise called guided imagery, in which patients focus on a specific image or sensation that evokes the emotions they want to feel, says Ronit Azoulay, a music therapist at the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.

Prevention Magazine - music for healing and pain relief
 

Aging musicians have sharper brains!

Musicians who studied the longest as kids, when tested at the ages of 65-80, functioned better on tests of cognitive skills than those with no musical education.  Scientists opined that the study and playing of music might form and maintain synapses in the brain.

Published in the journal of Neuropsychology, April 2011
 

Article by Sue Joan
 
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updated 11/2017