All Ages The link between music and health

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cefmac

Legacy Member
There have been loads of scientific studies done over the years which demonstrate that involvement in music - whether as a listener or performer - can have huge health benefits. For example, in the news recently, there was a story that explained how singing in a choir can help those with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, as it helps them focus their breathing.

Music can also be used to calm mental illness as well, such as anxiety and depression. I suffer from those illnesses myself, but I often find that getting really involved in music can make me feel more at ease with myself. When I graduate, I'd love to do music therapy with a focus on mental health.

Has anyone got any thoughts on the subject?
 
I know that I can manipulate my emotional moods by listening to certain types of music so it stands to reason that listening to music can have health benefits. People who suffer from chronic pain conditions, heart and circulation related ailments and anxiety can benefit from relaxing with softer music and those who need to increase energy in order to exercise and lose weight can benefit from listening to more upbeat fare. I definitely think that music can help you address physical illnesses.
 
Yes, there had been research studies claiming that music does have many advantages. It can help develop the motor skills of babies when classical background music while they're sleeping is being played. Music can also boost the productivity of workers so it is not impossible that music also has good effects on one's health.
 
cefmac said:
There have been loads of scientific studies done over the years which demonstrate that involvement in music - whether as a listener or performer - can have huge health benefits. For example, in the news recently, there was a story that explained how singing in a choir can help those with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, as it helps them focus their breathing.

Music can also be used to calm mental illness as well, such as anxiety and depression. I suffer from those illnesses myself, but I often find that getting really involved in music can make me feel more at ease with myself. When I graduate, I'd love to do music therapy with a focus on mental health.

Has anyone got any thoughts on the subject?
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I fully agree. I've went through depression too, and music therapy is definitely important.
Also I had social anxiety, so in university there were challenges to get through every day, and I had a lot of fears...but those were things I knew I HAD to do, and so I did. To calm myself before them, I used to listen to uplifting music and imagine that I can do those challenges on the way to going somewhere...it helped a lot. I've also noticed that if I listen to energetic music when I run I can run faster and for longer time than otherwise.
I think there are studies that show that listening to classical music is good for baby development while a woman is pregnant, as well as for growing of plants. Not sure about the last one, but yes, listening music has been very powerful in my experience.
 
Shakespeare knew of the benefits, so it just stands to reason. I've been listening to music my entire life and it has kept me very calm through some very hard times. I would recommend it to anyone for any number of reasons.
 
The strange thing about music is that it's a lot more math than you'd think. Rapping is a lot more math-intensive as well. I produce music and chopping samples and implementing different patterns requires you to really pay attention to the musical timing of what you're doing. And rapping is just matching syllables to beats in music. Deciding how to rearrange syllables and beats to create a pleasing structure is more math than I ever bargained for. It mostly comes naturally, though.
 
asaaaron said:
The strange thing about music is that it's a lot more math than you'd think. Rapping is a lot more math-intensive as well. I produce music and chopping samples and implementing different patterns requires you to really pay attention to the musical timing of what you're doing. And rapping is just matching syllables to beats in music. Deciding how to rearrange syllables and beats to create a pleasing structure is more math than I ever bargained for. It mostly comes naturally, though.
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Never thought about rap being "math-intensive". This is quite interesting. Thanks for this! Guess you learn something new everyday :)
 
asaaaron said:
The strange thing about music is that it's a lot more math than you'd think. Rapping is a lot more math-intensive as well. I produce music and chopping samples and implementing different patterns requires you to really pay attention to the musical timing of what you're doing. And rapping is just matching syllables to beats in music. Deciding how to rearrange syllables and beats to create a pleasing structure is more math than I ever bargained for. It mostly comes naturally, though.
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I wonder where it is you have got your perception from, but it's kind of right though, there's so much work involved. I used to write songs, got into rap, did some few songs for myself, really felt chill about it.

Anyway, it was not what I wanted for my life, but I did understand what it took, how much dedication to enriching your syllables, it was like swallowing a dictionary. I had to virtually read through pages and pages till I mostly got all the words that got every word that rhymes in my head.
 
There have been plenty of studies that cite the mental and physical health benefits of music. Music helps alleviate stress, which lowers blood pressure and reduces your chances of having a heart attack or stroke. The reduction of stress will also help alleviate the symptoms of some mental conditions such as anxiety, bipolar disorder and depression. You can reduce the number of headaches and panic attacks you experience and mroe. Listening to music is a great way to soothe the soul.
 
I think music takes people to a whole new world. I find music as a sort of connection between the musician and the listener, taking people through a journey of musical enjoyment and self-realization. I really believe that music has the ability to give people a whole new experience.

It can serve as therapy and for me, music is a friend.
 
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