To Your Health: Music positively impacts health

By Gillian Slade on November 12, 2018.

Music can stir the soul, provoke emotion that has eyes brimming with tears, and have a positive impact on health.

If you attended any of the Remembrance Day events you can probably identify. Listening to the Last Post or even our national anthem, O Canada, as you watched veterans in uniform, triggers strong emotions and overwhelming feelings of gratitude.

On a happier note there is the excitement of a bridal march at a wedding as the bride walks down the aisle, equally emotional though.

As we approach Christmas there will be orchestras and choirs performing Handel’s “Messiah” so stirring that it is hard to resist singing along for the Hallelujah Chorus.

Scientists have found that music can help us cope better with pain. There are physical benefits, mental health benefits, better quality of sleep and even cognitive benefits.

The positive impact of music for those dealing with dementia has been documented for some time. Typically family members of the patient know the songs that have always been favourites and that is a good place to start in deciding what music to play. The benefit and preference for one piece of music over another should be easy to observe.

While music can’t remove pain it can be a distraction helping to temporarily reduce the intensity for patients with chronic pain or those in intensive care, or palliative care.

Talking of distraction, music can keep you pumped helping you to exercise longer than you’d normally manage and that accounts for those runners you see with headphones on.

In Europe they are now studying the effect sound waves have on the quality of cheese during the maturation process. They are playing a wide variety of music to determine which works best.

Typically when we are feeling stressed, just received bad news or had an argument, we want to reach for the phone to tell someone else about it, reach for something to eat, an alcoholic drink, or medication. Now research suggests it may be beneficial instead to sit in a comfortable chair and listen to your favourite music.

Classical music in particular can help you to drift off to sleep if you deal with insomnia. Music is known to reduce levels of anxiety and there are reports of stroke patients, who listened to music for two hours each day, having improved memory and a more positive outlook.

Then of course there are the multiple benefits of joining a choir yourself or learning to play an instrument. You are never too old to start.

Here’s to music and its positive impact on our lives and here’s To Your Health.

To Your Health is a weekly column by Gillian Slade, health reporter for the News, bringing you news on health issues and research from around the world. You can reach her at gslade@medicinehatnews.com or 403-528-8635.

15
-14