{"id":1480,"date":"2014-03-14T13:07:17","date_gmt":"2014-03-14T18:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/?p=1480"},"modified":"2015-01-02T10:46:02","modified_gmt":"2015-01-02T15:46:02","slug":"why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is music powerful medicine?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today, we have a guest post by an author who is a Canadian health expert, and especially in the field of music therapy.\u00a0\u00a0 Please feel free to contact me or him if you have more questions.<\/p>\n<p><b>Music as medicine<\/b><\/p>\n<p>For centuries people have used music to soothe others; this is why mothers sing to their babies.\u00a0 It has also been used to lift the spirits of those feeling depressed, and to bring confidence to soldiers going into battle.\u00a0 Yet it is only recently that music has been recognized as a serious tool with which to tackle health problems.\u00a0 Now, as music therapy takes off in earnest, people are taking a fresh look at all the ways music can help us to feel better.<\/p>\n<p><b>The physical effects of music<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Music affects the body in several direct, verifiable ways.\u00a0 They include the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Steadying the heart rate by matching it to the beat.<\/li>\n<li>Steadying the breathing.<\/li>\n<li>Slowing the production of the \u2018stress hormone\u2019 cortisol.<\/li>\n<li>Relaxing muscles.<\/li>\n<li>Boosting healthy immune responses.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>By influencing the body in these ways, music can lower stress levels and reduce the risk of several major health problems occurring, including heart disease and stroke.\u00a0 What\u2019s more, it can make people feel happier and more relaxed in the process.<\/p>\n<p>The use of music in these areas is growing increasingly common because where a health problem is not so severe that an immediate medical intervention is needed, it can provide a less damaging means of addressing that problem.\u00a0 Unlike many medications music has no negative side effects.<\/p>\n<p><b>Music as a distraction<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Music is now used in a number of medical contexts to distract people from stress and pain, making it easier for them to cope with difficult situations.\u00a0 For instance, dentists may use it to help their patients feel calm, and it is piped into MRI machines &#8211; at the patient\u2019s request &#8211; to drown out unpleasant noises and help them relax while they have to keep still.\u00a0 It can also be used to make hospital environments less stressful for children.<\/p>\n<p><b>Music and disability<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Some people with mental health problems and learning disorders find music helpful not just because it reduces stress but also because it helps them to order their thoughts.\u00a0 This is thought to be because of its impact on key neurons in the brainstem.\u00a0 Essentially, it creates order through rhythm.\u00a0 Music is now routinely used in social care and learning support for people in these groups.<\/p>\n<p>A related approach to this is the use of music to help reorient people with dementia and to help stroke survivors recover their motor skills.<\/p>\n<p><b>Music therapy<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Music therapy is currently one of the fastest growing allied health professions and is the focus of a great deal of research, including work looking at the direct biological effects of certain sound frequencies.\u00a0 Scientists also measure the different behaviors of the brain with and without musical stimulation in order to better understand how music can be used to change thought patterns.\u00a0 In some instances it can help patients to break out of cyclical patterns of depressive thought, and patients can learn to use it themselves to recover from panic attacks.<\/p>\n<p>Further information about music therapy can be found on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.canadianhealthexpert.com\/\" class=\"broken_link\">this health advice site<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, we have a guest post by an author who is a Canadian health expert, and especially in the field of music therapy.\u00a0\u00a0 Please feel free to contact me or him if you have more questions. Music as medicine For centuries people have used music to soothe others; this is why mothers sing to their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17,1,3],"tags":[454],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.10 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why is music powerful medicine?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"how music can affect you physically, mentally, and benefits of music therapy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why is music powerful medicine?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"how music can affect you physically, mentally, and benefits of music therapy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Healing Music Enterprises Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-14T18:07:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-01-02T15:46:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dr. Alice Cash\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dr. Alice Cash\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dr. Alice Cash\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/851116d0ae7e38e4488e6165ebc03582\"},\"headline\":\"Why is music powerful medicine?\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-14T18:07:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-01-02T15:46:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/\"},\"wordCount\":548,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/851116d0ae7e38e4488e6165ebc03582\"},\"keywords\":[\"Music as medicine; music power\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Music and the Mind-Body\",\"Music Healing\",\"Music Medicine\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/\",\"name\":\"Why is music powerful medicine?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-14T18:07:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-01-02T15:46:02+00:00\",\"description\":\"how music can affect you physically, mentally, and benefits of music therapy\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why is music powerful medicine?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Healing Music Enterprises Blog\",\"description\":\"Tune Your Life with Music\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/851116d0ae7e38e4488e6165ebc03582\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/851116d0ae7e38e4488e6165ebc03582\",\"name\":\"Dr. Alice Cash\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Alice.ProPhoto.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Alice.ProPhoto.jpg\",\"width\":224,\"height\":300,\"caption\":\"Dr. Alice Cash\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"description\":\"Trained as a classical, concert pianist, I stepped into the world of music as medicine in 1990. It is a fantastic adventure! It has taken me around the world and I'm eager to keep traveling! Free sample of healing music: www.healingmusicenterprises.com\/Sample_Healing_Music.html\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.HealingMusicEnterprises.com\"],\"url\":\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/author\/hmusic\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why is music powerful medicine?","description":"how music can affect you physically, mentally, and benefits of music therapy","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why is music powerful medicine?","og_description":"how music can affect you physically, mentally, and benefits of music therapy","og_url":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/","og_site_name":"Healing Music Enterprises Blog","article_published_time":"2014-03-14T18:07:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-01-02T15:46:02+00:00","author":"Dr. Alice Cash","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dr. Alice Cash","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/"},"author":{"name":"Dr. Alice Cash","@id":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/851116d0ae7e38e4488e6165ebc03582"},"headline":"Why is music powerful medicine?","datePublished":"2014-03-14T18:07:17+00:00","dateModified":"2015-01-02T15:46:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/"},"wordCount":548,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/851116d0ae7e38e4488e6165ebc03582"},"keywords":["Music as medicine; music power"],"articleSection":["Music and the Mind-Body","Music Healing","Music Medicine"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/","url":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/","name":"Why is music powerful medicine?","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-03-14T18:07:17+00:00","dateModified":"2015-01-02T15:46:02+00:00","description":"how music can affect you physically, mentally, and benefits of music therapy","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-is-music-a-powerful-medicine\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why is music powerful medicine?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/#website","url":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/","name":"Healing Music Enterprises Blog","description":"Tune Your Life with Music","publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/851116d0ae7e38e4488e6165ebc03582"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/851116d0ae7e38e4488e6165ebc03582","name":"Dr. Alice Cash","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Alice.ProPhoto.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Alice.ProPhoto.jpg","width":224,"height":300,"caption":"Dr. Alice Cash"},"logo":{"@id":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"description":"Trained as a classical, concert pianist, I stepped into the world of music as medicine in 1990. It is a fantastic adventure! It has taken me around the world and I'm eager to keep traveling! Free sample of healing music: www.healingmusicenterprises.com\/Sample_Healing_Music.html","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.HealingMusicEnterprises.com"],"url":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/author\/hmusic\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1480"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1788,"href":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480\/revisions\/1788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}