Music Heals

“Music can minister to minds diseased, pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, raze out the written troubles of the brain, and with its sweet oblivious antidote, cleanse the full bosom of all perilous stuff that weighs upon the heart.”
--Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

      I don’t know about you, but I would LOVE for something to rid me of “all the perilous stuff that weighs upon the heart.”  Shakespeare thought that music could do the trick there, and he’s right.  This isn’t exactly new—people have used music as a tool to soothe for probably as long as there have been babies and parents to sing them lullabies—but multiple scientific studies in recent years have fortified belief into proven fact:  music can heal. 

              

     According to some of these studies, music can do the following (*):

• Soothe premature babies, calming their heart rates and helping them sleep better.  Live music either played (by music therapists) or sung (by their parents) to the babies in the NICU not only helped the infants, it also helped calm their parents.

• Improve the functioning of our immune systems.

• Reduce stress (How many of us already knew this?).

•  Reduce anxiety before surgery better than prescription drugs.

•     Help pediatric patients in emergency rooms experience less pain when having IVs inserted (and also make it easier for nurses to insert the IVs—Can you hear ER nurses everywhere uttering up a “Hallelujah?”).

Between reading about these studies and also reading about 1) purring as stress relief for both cats and their humans (**) and 2) an ultrasound treatment that was being tested on mice whose brains contained the sort of plaques and tangles associated with Alzheimer’s disease in humans (***), I wondered if vibration alone (music = sound = vibration) would have similar beneficial effects.  As it turns out, other people have wondered that, too.  In one study (*), researchers had Parkinson’s patients sit on a mat that transmitted acoustic vibrations (picture sitting on a subwoofer while it’s vibrating) for a certain period of time.  They found that exposure to the vibrations appeared to improve the patients’ mobility and reduced their tremors, at least on a short-term basis.

While not a scientific study in and of itself, the music therapy provided to Alzheimer’s patients as seen in the movie “Alive Inside” (in which unresponsive dementia patients are provided with iPods loaded with music meaningful to them) produced amazing and inspiring results.  People who had shut down or had been uncommunicative due to their dementia seemed to “come alive” after listening to the music.  Many were then able to communicate more effectively and lucidly after listening.  The music often called up memories for them of their pasts, which they could then talk about.  In most cases, the music had a visible, immediate effect on their mood—faces lit up, smiles appeared, and some (including those who normally seemed unable to converse) began singing along.  I defy anyone to watch this documentary and not walk away believing that music can sometimes be a medicine equal to or better than any (expensive, side-effect-laden) drug.

In my personal life, I have experienced music as a healing, or at least stress-reducing, agent as well.  Several years ago I had jaw surgery in which my lower jaw was broken, slid forward, and screwed into a new position to improve my bite (and thus lessen the terrible TMJ problems I was experiencing).  It was, needless to say, painful.  One thing that helped tremendously was listening to a CD of Native American flute music performed by R. Carlos Nakai.  I am convinced that that particular music had actual healing qualities for me.  Recently, as I deal with a life made increasingly difficult by the dementia that plagues my husband (accompanied by worries about finances, and career, and being a parent, and the state of our country and our world), I have relied heavily on music to strengthen my spirit and battle my anxiety and depression.  Especially effective, I find, is the song “Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself” by Jess Glynne (for maximum efficacy, crank to a high volume and sing along at the top of your lungs while driving—feel free to dance in your seat and slap the steering wheel in rhythm for emphasis).   I’ve also witnessed what music does for my husband, a music-lover and a former band instructor for many years.  Listening to “his” music (which spans multiple decades and genres) moves him to tears and to delight.  We can move to it together—and although he’s still able to talk and communicate relatively well with me, we can connect through the music in ways that seem to bypass or surpass ordinary spoken language.

Perhaps the most moving proof of the power of music I have ever seen, though, occurred during an afternoon near the end of my grandmother’s life when she (no longer able to speak much) sang along with my mother and aunt as they sang the old, familiar hymns she knew and loved.  She didn’t seem to know where she was or who we were and she couldn’t really talk to us—but she could still sing those songs.  Music, temporarily, gave her a voice again and gave all of us in the room a tangible, vocal point of connection.

Music is an incredible medicine.  It’s a gift.  I believe it to be from God, who wisely gave us so many tools, beyond tablets and liquids and syringes and radiation machines, to soothe us, to restore us, and to heal us.  So go forth, my friends, and sing.  Sing a song.  Sing out loud.  Sing out strong.  And all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things (including you) shall be well.

* “Music as medicine” by Amy Novotney.  American Psychology Association.  Monitor on Psychology, November 2013, Vol. 44, No. 10, page 46.  http://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/11/music.aspx

** “Can Your Cat’s Purr Heal?”  Article on Animal Wellness Magazine’s website:  http://animalwellnessmagazine.com/can-your-cats-purr-heal/

*** “Experimental ultrasound treatment targets Alzheimer’s brain plaque” by Randy Dotinga, CBS News website, March 12, 2015.  (Study itself is found in the March 11, 2015 issue of Science Translational Medicine).  http://www.cbsnews.com/news/experimental-ultrasound-treatment-targets-alzheimers/