Listening To Music, According To Studies Can Improve Body And Mental Health

Illustration of listening to music (Unsplash/Blaz Erzetic)

JAKARTA – The weekend getaway and spending time at home is the perfect combination for playing music listening devices. Because, based on a number of studies prove that listening to music benefits are not trivial.

Reported by the American Psychological Association (APA), Saturday, August 21, the first study proved that some music, such as lullabies, can calm premature babies and their parents. In fact, listening to music can improve sleeping and eating patterns in babies.

For parents, listening to music can reduce stress. The study at the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center included 272 premature babies born at 32 weeks' gestation.

The results of the study found that the most effective voice was the singing of both parents. But basically the composition of the notes in a music keeps the baby calm and improves the quality of sleep.

Lead author of the study, Joanne Loewy, said that music therapy reduces stress in older people.

"There's something about music that excites and activates the body," says Loewy. Leowy himself has researched music therapy and as a psychologist has investigated the use of music in medicine to help patients cope with pain, depression, and Alzheimer's disease.

“Music has many ways to improve the quality of life and besides that it can promote recovery,” adds Leowy.

Daniel J. Levitin, Ph.D., a psychologist who studies musical neuroscience at McGill University, Montreal, found that music improves immune system function and reduces stress.

As the authors of This is Your Brain on Music, Levitin and his team found that listening to and playing music increases the production of immunoglobulin A antibodies and virus-fighting cells and increases the effectiveness of the immune system. Music also reduces levels of cortisol, the stress hormone.

"This is one reason why music is associated with relaxation," says Levitin.

Another study was conducted by a team at the University of Alberta. Found that patients who listened to relaxing music reported significantly reduced pain when inserting an IV.

"There is growing scientific evidence showing that the brain responds to music in very specific ways," said Lisa Hartling, Ph.D., professor of pediatrics and lead author of the study.

Illustration of music listening device (Unsplash/Juja Han)

In Singapore, researchers from Khoo Teck Hospital studied palliative care with live music therapy sessions. Palliative care is a service to patients whose disease has not responded to treatment and cannot be cured medically.

Music therapy works closely with the patient. Patients take part in singing, playing instruments, discussing lyrics, even writing songs.

The therapy allows patients to reconnect with a healthy part of themselves, said Melanie Kwan of the study team and president of the Association for Music Therapy, Singapore. The symptoms of acute pain experienced by patients are reduced, they can finally rest.

Lee Bartel, Ph.D., professor of music at the University of Toronto is exploring whether sound vibrations in music being absorbed through the body can help relieve symptoms of Parkinson's disease, fibromyalgia, and depression.

In his study, rhythmic vibrations in music can stabilize neurological disorientation in brain regions. The effect allows storing and accessing more memory. With his studies, Bartel looks at the potential of how the brain and body work together in the cognitive and memory dimensions.