You can’t deny that music has healing powers; whether you’ve just been dumped, you’re getting amped up for a night on the town, or you’re training for your first marathon, music has the ability transform our moods, lift our spirits, and even physically heal our bodies.
As if you needed a reason to turn your iPod up, here’s a roundup of some of the miraculous benefits of listening to music.
Music has been found to ease anxiety in cancer patients; researchers from Drexel University found that cancer patients who listened to music or worked with a music therapist had a reduction in anxiety, better blood pressure levels and improved moods!
Listening to music daily can lower everyday stress, according to the University of Gothenburg. But what’s really interesting is that it can also lower stress while on the operating table! Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic found that brain surgery patients who listened to pure melodies – versus just rhythmic arrangements – were comforted most during the surgery, with some patients even falling asleep.
Music has also been linked to better heart health. A study from the University of Maryland Medical Center found that listening to joyful music is associated with dilation of blood vessels’ inner lining, which means more flow of blood through the blood vessels. But the key word is joyful; blood vessels grew by 26% when a person listened to happy music, but decreased by 6% when a person listened to anxiety-triggering music. Moreover, listening to music soon after a stroke could help with recovery, according to Finnish research published in News Medical.
And finally, listening to music can literally ease the pain. Researchers from University of Utah Pain Research Center say listening to music is effective as a distraction for anxiety-prone people from feeling pain. The study published in the Journal of Pain found that music helped the study participants to have less arousal when shocked with non-dangerous fingertip electrodes.