Music has been around since ancient times. It is part of every known culture. It can get your foot tapping, lift your mood, and even help you recall a distant memory.
Did you know that music can bring other health benefits? Scientists are exploring the different ways music stimulates healthier bodies and minds.
“When you listen to or create music, it affects how you think, feel, move, and more,” says neuroscientist Dr. Robert Finkelstein, who co-leads NIH’s music and health initiative.
“Today, modern technologies are helping researchers learn more about how the brain works, what parts of the brain respond to music, and how music might help ease symptoms of certain diseases and conditions,” he explains.
Your Brain on Music
The brain is a complex processing hub. It’s the control center of your nervous system, the network of nerve cells that carry messages to and from your body and the brain.
A healthy brain tries to make sense of the world around you and the constant information it receives, including sound and music.
“Sound is an important and profound force in our lives,” explains Northwestern University neuroscientist Dr. Nina Kraus.
“The more we exercise our sound processing in the brain, the better the brain becomes at making sense of sound and the world around us. Music does this more than any other sound.”
Music and other sounds enter the ear as sound waves. These create vibrations on our eardrum that are transformed into electrical signals.
The electrical signals travel up the auditory nerve to the brain’s auditory cortex. This brain area interprets the sound into something we recognize and understand.
But music affects more than the brain areas that process sound. Using techniques that take pictures of the brain, like fMRI, scientists have found that music affects other brain areas.
When music stimulates the brain, it shows up on brain images as flickers of bright light. Studies have shown that music “lights up” brain areas involved in emotion, memory, and even physical movement.
“Music can help facilitate movement,” Finkelstein explains. NIH-funded scientists are investigating whether music can help patients with movement disorders, like Parkinson’s disease.
Patients with this condition slowly lose their ability to walk and move over time.
“Studies show that when a certain beat is embedded in music, it can help people with Parkinson’s disease walk,” Finkelstein says.
Another study is looking at how dance compares to other types of exercise in people with Parkinson’s disease.
There’s also evidence that music may be helpful for people with other health conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, traumatic brain injury, stroke, aphasia, autism, and hearing loss.
Building Strong Minds
Playing a musical instrument engages many parts of the brain at once. This can especially benefit children and teens, whose brains are still developing.
Introducing music to young kids can positively influence their ability to focus, how they act, and language development.
Kraus’s research team at Northwestern studies how musical training influences brain development. They found that music has positive effects on kids’ learning abilities, even when the training starts as late as high school.
“The teens in our study showed biological changes in the brain after two years of participating in consistent music-making activities in school,” she explains.
Kraus says that these changes affect learning ability and can help improve skills like reading and writing. These benefits can be long lasting, too.
“Once you teach your brain how to respond to sound effectively it continues to do that well beyond when the music lessons stop,” Kraus explains.
“A little music goes a long way, but the longer you play, the stronger your brain becomes.”
Being musical may also protect you from hearing loss as you age. We naturally lose our hearing ability over time. In particular, it becomes harder to hear conversations in a loud environment.
But researchers have found that musicians are better at picking out a person’s voice in a noisy background.
Music Therapy
Listening to and making music on your own can bring health benefits. But some people may also benefit from the help of a board-certified music therapist.
Music therapists are trained in how to use music to meet the mental, social, and physical needs of people with different health conditions.
“Music therapy can take many forms that go beyond listening to music,” explains Dr. Sheri Robb, a music therapist and behavioral intervention researcher at Indiana University.
Music therapists can use certain parts of music, like the rhythm or melody, to help people regain abilities they’ve lost from a brain injury or developmental disability.
For example, a person who’s had a stroke may be able to sing words, but not speak them.
Music therapists also rely on the social qualities of music. Shared musical experiences can help a family member connect with a loved one who has dementia.
Music can also be used to help young people with behavior disorders learn ways to manage their emotions.
Robb’s research focuses on developing and testing music therapy interventions for children and teens with cancer and their families.
In one study, music therapists helped young people undergoing high-risk cancer treatments to write song lyrics and create music videos about what was most important to them.
“With the help of music therapists, these teenagers were able to identify their strengths and positive ways to cope, remain connected with family and friends, and improve communication during a challenging time,” Robb explains.
Music in Your Life
Music can offer many health benefits, but it may not be helpful for everyone. Traumatic injuries and brain conditions can change the way a person perceives and responds to music.
Some people may find some types of music overstimulating. Others may find that certain music brings up emotional or traumatic memories.
“It’s important for healthcare providers to identify and understand when music isn’t helpful and may be harmful,” Robb says. “And this is an area where music therapists can be helpful.”
As scientists continue to learn more about music and the brain, try striking a chord for your health.
Whether you’re looking to boost your mood, stay connected to others, or improve symptoms of a health condition, add a little music to your life.
“Think of music like physical fitness or what you eat,” Kraus says. “To see the most health benefits, try to include music as a regular, consistent part of your life. It’s never too late to add music to your life.”
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