Music recharges your brain and memory

You end your daily routine, wear headphones, and play your favorite music. What change do you feel?

You instantly feel your shoulders become light, your mind relaxes, and your heartbeats become normal.

Have you ever seen an infant cry while listening to a lullaby? Why did this happen?

Music is a cure for pain and emotions.

Melodies help your brain secrete dopamine and serotonin, relaxing the brain and body cells.

Music improves learning and focusing capabilities. Hence, many athletes use music during training sessions to focus better on their goals.

Music stays with you when you forget your memory due to dementia. It also helps to recover from depression and strokes.

Pop songs originated in the 1950s and are still popular in modern times, entertaining the young and old.

History of healing with music

Music was used as a therapy for several ailments in ancient times. Several cultures have used music as a healing option, including:

• Greek physicians used flutes, lyres, and zithers to treat digestion, mental disorders, and sleeping problems.

• Egyptian culture treated sick patients with music in temples.

• Ayurveda has Raga chikitsa (musical treatment), which uses melodies and rhythms.

• Native American tribes used drums, chants, and songs.

• China, Australia, and the Arabs also used music for healing.

E. Thayer Gaston was an American music educator. He is considered the father of modern music healing methods, complemented by medications.

The first known music therapy for treating patients was recorded and tested in the 1800s.

Music for the brain

Brain plasticity

Brain plasticity is the brain’s ability to alter its structure, function, and connections with the organs in the presence of internal or external factors. Music helps to reorganize the brain throughout an individual’s lifespan. Other benefits include:

• Music engages the brain’s cognitive functions, such as memory, attentiveness, and behavioral patterns.

• Songs or melodies may work as the brain’s notes to recall a particular event or information.

• Beats and rhythms can boost focus for students, improve studies, and reduce stress.

FUN FACT: Music is the single activity that uses the entire brain.

Hormone regulation

Research suggests that blood flows better when you listen to your favorite music. As a result:

• Dopamine (happy hormone) levels rise in the blood.

• Cortisol (stress hormone) levels decrease.

• Serotonin (connects the brain with the body) and endorphin (pain reliever) levels rise.

  

Music for mood and emotions

Music alters mood and emotions during various situations. When your ears catch music, your brain processes emotions better.

Music enhances heartbeats, blood circulation, respiration, and brain-related functions. Thus, music supports many people in achieving physical and psychological balance.

Songs using many instruments, beats, rhythm, and tunes generate specific feelings in your heart.

According to the BRECVEMA theory of 2008, a model explaining how music stimulates emotions. It covers 8 mechanisms, including:

• Brain Stem Reflex - an automatic response to music

• Rhythmic entrainment - aligning with music

• Evaluative conditioning - emotional connection

• Contagion - emotional reaction

• Visual imagery - visualization in the brain

• Episodic memory - recalling memories

• Musical expectancy - bonding with the musical pattern

• Aesthetic judgement - evaluating the musical beauty

  

How does music reduce stress hormones?

Music with 60 beats per minute can help the brain emit alpha waves, between 8 and 14 Hertz. These alpha waves are released when we are relaxed and conscious. Thus, music helps to relieve stress.

Some other ways music listening eliminates stress from our minds include:

• Dopamine and oxytocin release, which result in pleasure.

• Reduced secretion of cortisol or stress hormones.

• Regulation of blood circulation, maintaining a normal blood pressure.

Advancements in music therapies

Artificial intelligence integration has boosted music therapies for patients. The treatment methods include:

• AI-based music therapies with personalized playlists

• Developing brainwaves to induce sleep and relaxation

Music has blended well with multiple treatment procedures to heal patients, which include:

• Pain management

• Chemotherapy

• Stroke rehabilitation

• Brain nerve improvement

How does music improve speech?

Music expands the brain’s ability to process information. It benefits skill development, information integration of different senses, and coordination. Therefore, people with speech and language disabilities should listen to music to improve their speech.

Music should complement a therapy or procedure, not replace it.

A song becomes your favorite because it reminds you of an emotional moment.

Professional advice on music for healing

Music connects people in the absence of language. Doctors prefer music as a strong tool to heal injuries and diseases. The methods involve:

• Neurologists and psychologists believe that mental patients heal quickly when they listen to music.

• Sound frequencies can help heal hearing and speech disabilities.

  

A case study about music and memory

A study revealed the magic of music on Margaret, an American resident of 94 years. Doctors treated her with music therapy for 18 months.

She had Alzheimer’s disease. However, she remembered the names of the lyricists of each song she listened to.

Types of music therapies

There are two types of music therapy. Both work in different formats and have dissimilar effects. These include:

Physical therapy

Physical music therapy is used to treat physical disabilities such as balance, movement issues, and physical coordination.

• Soothing melodies reduce pain by activating the brain’s reward system.

• Playing instruments with music helps to restore motor neuron ( brain and body connecting) functions.

• Slow tempos reduce heartbeats and lower blood pressure, providing relaxation.

Psychological therapy

Psychological music therapy works on autism, mental illness like dementia, stroke, thinking, or communication issues.

• Music can alter emotions, offering relief from sadness and depression.

• Rhythmic melodies work as a memory booster.

• Music therapy participation provides words for self-expression and fosters social bonding.

Nearly 2 million people received music therapy in 2021.

What is your favorite music?

Songs, melodies, and rhythms, when matched with our heartbeats and brain movements, make a powerful tool together to correct any damage done to the body and mind. Music can regulate emotions and brainwaves to fortify you deep inside. Have you seen any person healed by music?