Actually, Shakespeare was talking about love, but maybe music is just as beneficial. Everyone knows that listening to your favorite melodies can uplift your spirits as much as it can enrage or depress you, exhibiting such an internal grip on your emotions. Now, several new fascinating studies are shedding light on the far more specific, physiological consequences of having that little ditty stuck in your head, as well as providing insight on its continuing healing potential beyond simple stress therapy.
In a 2009 experiment, 24 volunteers, half of which were practiced singers while the other half had no musical training, listened to selections of Classical music. Researchers found that their cardio and respiratory systems mirrored the musical selection’s tempo. During crescendos, subjects experienced a proportional constriction of blood vessels and an increase in blood pressure, while with decrescendos and silent periods, the opposite occurred. Heart rate would synchronize with “rich” music phases of short, famous expressive arias. Researchers suggested perhaps these responses influenced our emotions, not vice versa. Previous studies were mentioned alluding to how music even affects the respiratory systems of semi-vegetative patients subconsciously.
With the beginning of the aria, the agreement between music envelope (distinctive patterns in tone) and diastolic blood pressure (resting blood vessel pressure between heart beats) increased and remained high until after the end of the aria. The subjects synchronized their Mayer waves (waves in arterial blood pressure) with the rhythm of the music. Sorry, this isn’t as funny as it is interesting.
Music also has been proven to positively influence metabolic activity in humans. Gastrointestinal disease patients who listened to enjoyable music showed increased gastric motility and stimulated gastric emptying, implying music’s ability to facilitate normalizing intestinal movement. Exercise and post-exercise activities can also benefit through increased lipid breakdown and lactic acid clearance, which have been found to be stimulated by listening to music. Additionally, music aids with the progression of general anabolic responses which come with recovering from injuries and stress.
Lastly, the connection between the rhythmic nature of music and its resemblance with that of the timed, systematic processing of the brain has been explored, especially the mechanisms that control sequencing and coordination of movement. Years of experimentation has revealed that music’s rhythmic quality has the ability to synchronize with motor function to help patients improve from stroke, Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, or traumatic brain injury. It has been found that “sound can arouse and excite the spinal motor neurons mediated by auditory-motor connections at the brain stem and spinal cord level.” Without this stimulus, the similar procedural and rhythmic processing that occurs in the brain could not prepare itself to execute the movements associated with the excitation from music. Music also provides an outstanding memory template for procedural learning. Musical information in patients with memory disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, has been found to be preserved longer and more proportionally so than with their existing state of memory loss. Researchers concluded that music creates more deeply imbued and resistant connections in the brain.
Studies involving more in-depth experimentation regarding the physiological influence of music and its possible benefits have a long way to go. However, music’s varying effect on us is undeniable. At times we have the pleasure to experience songs that move us, but now it seems music can improve lives on a level never before seen.
Sources:
- Bernardi, L. et al. Dynamic Interactions Between Musical, Cardiovascular, and Cerebral Rhythms in Humans. Circulation, 2009; 119: 3171- 3180. DOI: 10.1161
- Thaut, M. The Future of Music in Therapy and Medicine. 2006 DOI: 10.1196/annals.1360.023
- Yamasaki, A., et al. The impact of music on metabolism. Nutrition – 06 August 2012 DOI: 10.1016/j.nut.2012.01.020
a happy delusion to see us through 