From an email I received………..
All cultures — small or large, primitive or advanced — make music. Chances are you make some music yourself, whether it is a few chords on the guitar or a slight hum to the radio.
The human brain and nervous system are wired to not only distinguish music from noise but also create it and respond to it.
Your body and mind can react to music without you realizing it.
In fact, restaurants often play different types of music to influence your movements subconsciously.
Fast music speeds up your eating for a quick turnaround; slow music slows your eating, and you’re more likely to linger for coffee and dessert.
But a significant number of studies show that music can influence far more than how fast or slow you eat — music can help heal your body, mind, and soul.
That’s right: Science has demonstrated that music is an effective therapy for a wide range of disorders and health problems.
Recent research shows that music may be very healthy for the heart.
After just four weeks of listening to music, people with hypertension experienced significantly lower blood pressure, better moods, and a better quality of life.
Best of all, there aren’t any adverse side effects. Medications that achieve similar results come loaded with side effects like constipation, erectile dysfunction, nervousness, weakness, headaches, nausea… the list goes on and on.
Another study shows that music can help treat mental disorders like PTSD. The participants reported that listening to music was far less intrusive and far more enjoyable than other forms of therapy.
Music may also be the key to a longer, healthier life.
A group of Swedish scientists wanted to find out how music has influenced the health and longevity of people in the past. They gathered up the records of 12,982 people.
These records contained information like their previous health, education, income, social networks, exercise patterns, history of smoking and drinking, and attendance to concerts and plays.
As you might expect, previous illnesses and smoking showed a trend of early death; financial security, exercise, and higher education showed a trend of longevity.
But get this…
Concert and play attendance had a surprisingly significant effect on whether or not someone would have an early death.
Those who rarely or never attended musical events were 1.57 times more likely to die early than those who went to concerts and plays frequently. Those who went occasionally were somewhere in between.
The reason for this is believed to be the profound effects of music on the brain. We’re going to talk a lot more about why this is in the next part of this four-part health series.
We’ll cover how music affects the mind and body, what health benefits you can get from music, how you can harness the healing power of music for yourself, and much more.
See you later this week in part 2.