Music lessons or learning to play any musical instrument can positively affect your brain development in many ways. This is not just a theory; it has been proven in a number of scientific studies and papers done on the subject. Music has been proven to have a magical effect on human brain development (including logic and sensory perception abilities). Few people today do not listen to and love music. And the variety of music today is greater than ever: from the heaviest to the most melodic. And even if you don’t like music and don’t want to listen to it, you have to do it willy-nilly…. It plays in the stores, on the bus, in the cab, and through the open windows on the street. Can such music affect us, or our health? Have you ever thought about that? So today we’re going to talk to you about the 10 benefits of music!
Let’s look at how listening to music can improve and positively affect the development of a person’s nervous system.
The benefits of music for the human body have been known since ancient times. Physicians in ancient Greece used wind instruments in the treatment of patients, and the philosopher Democritus spoke of the benefits of the flute not only for hearing but also for human health.
The Scottish scientist Maxwell successfully used music in the treatment of diseases such as epilepsy, dropsy, paralysis and various colds. What kind of music treated people and whether any music is good for the body?
The Impact on Human Physiology
Scientists state the fact that the most useful music is classical and folk folklore. Classical music has a positive effect on people’s physiology, as well as intellectual abilities. Rock music has a negative effect on the body. Rock vividly shows the connection between music and violence: it drives people to ecstasy when they want to smash and destroy everything. Violence also manifests itself in rap and pop music.
The Brain
The latest research has shown that playing music (eg, playing a musical instrument) has a beneficial effect on the brain. This is especially true for children. Experiment scientists from Harvard Medical School showed that in children who every week for 15 months, played music for 2.5 hours, the volume of the cerebral callous body of the brain, which is responsible for information exchange between the right and left hemispheres, increased by 25%.
Cardiac Rhythm
Italian physicians from the Sant’Anna Institute in Crotone have noticed that listening to classical music causes the heart rhythm of patients in a vegetative state to change. The physicians wrote an article about their discovery in the journal New Scientist. According to the article, the medics selected several classical pieces of music and chose excerpts from them in such a way that they differ in tempo and rhythmic coloration. Then scientists measured the frequency of cardiac states and patients before and after listening to excerpts. Subjected to similar experiments and a group of healthy volunteers. The results showed – classical music affects the heart rate. This was noticed both in respect to healthy patients, as well as those who are in a vegetative state.
Overall Effect on The Body
Also, scientists have found that music with more decibels is capable of harming a person and worsening his or her well-being and general condition. All music affects breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, and energy.
Human Stress and Music
Music can relieve stress and improve immunity, elevate mental strength, inspire creativity. But it can also stress a person out and cause aggression, apathy and a decrease in well-being.
The Mechanism of Music Effect on Human Beings
The exact mechanism of the impact of music on human health has not yet been established. What is known only is that the vibration of the sounds creates energy fields that make resonate in each cell of our body, as a result of which changes the physiological processes occurring in the body, which under the influence of music can accelerate, and then inhibit or even reverse (dissociation-synthesis).
Music Waves and Their Effects
Each organ of the human body – liver, kidneys, brain, lungs, and others – has its own tones and rhythms of sound that interact with each other and with the musical waves that have a regulating effect on them. In ancient times, healers were able to determine what rhythm or tone a person was missing, so treatment with words, music, and even voice singing was very effective.
Rhythms and Their Effects
Certain rhythms and certain frequencies can speed up or slow down the body’s metabolism, induce hypnotic states, etc. Behavioral physiologist George Diamond found that depending on the nature of the music, the listener’s muscle strength changes.
Music Therapy
Doctors say: despite the fact that the treatment of music is a harmless and fairly benign way of healing, you must adhere to the following simple, rules of application of music therapy:
– Therapeutic sessions are most effective in the early morning or late evening;
– Soothing and preventive sessions to conduct as needed at a convenient time for you;
– remove the feeling of hunger before listening, but do not overeat;
– dress in comfortable clothes and sit in a comfortable position;
– the initial stage of music therapy sessions should not exceed 20-30 minutes, later, you can increase the time of listening to the proposed songs, but do not bring yourself to fatigue;
– it is recommended to conduct one or two sessions daily with a break of at least 3-4 hours;
– the volume of listening to music – not higher than the average comfortable volume;
– listen to music in such a way that it does not disturb other people;
– music therapy does not interfere with medical treatment, and taking medication does not interfere with music therapy, so if your doctor prescribed any medication, you should not stop taking it. Start music therapy and when there is an improvement, the doctor himself will cancel its prescription for lack of need;
Boosting the Tone
Music therapy sessions aimed at improving tone, mood, blood pressure, and other similar effects usually begin to produce results within a few minutes of listening to the appropriate piece of music, while the treatment of more serious conditions such as stomach ulcers and similar conditions requires several weeks of exposure. In this sense, music therapy acts similarly to homeopathy, building up its effect not quickly, but doing so in the most healthful way possible.
Conclusion We can say without a doubt that listening to music improves brain function, structure, and neural connections. Studies show that professional musicians have better brain development than those who have never studied music. Not only do they process sound information perfectly, develop logical skills, sensory and motor skills, but they also have good coordination and connections with those who work with or around them. However, individuals’ abilities, motivation, and interest in learning music can vary, and these levels will affect the brain development of these individuals.