All great musical artists. All different genres.
From classical to heavy metal, music is an amazing gift on many levels.
It was time The Health Nutty Professor did an article on the health benefits of music. The studies done on how music effects plants, animals, and humans... are incredibly fascinating.
Here's why....
Plants
Vibrations from classical music were shown to encourage the growth of plants significantly compared to those exposed to rock music, or with no music at all (pubmed.org). Many have done their own experiments by putting 3 of the same kind of plant in 3 different rooms in their house. Each placed by a radio. One with no music, one with classical music, and one with rock. The results seem to be consistent. The plants lean closer and bloom faster with classical music playing. Amazing stuff.
Want to know more about the studies done on music and plants? Check out the book The Sound of Music and Plants by Dorothy Retallack. (Also see the health benefits of plants from a Health Nutty Professor's previous blog, HERE).
Animals
Birds are one of God's coolest creations. They innately know music, since they sing away so beautifully. Discovery News wrote a very interesting article called 'What Music Do Pets Prefer?' The article says "an animal psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has discovered that animals march to the beat of a different drum altogether. They enjoy what he calls "species-specific music" tunes specially designed using the pitches, tones and tempos that are familiar to their particular species" (news.discovery.com).
They conclude that animals like what goes with their heart rate and what kind of pitches that are soothing to them. A woman named Alianna Boone is a musician and a researcher. She studied at a Veterinary Clinic looking at the healing power of music in dogs. The playing of her harp reduced many different dog's struggling with anxiety and disease, even pain management. She has done studies on cows, and gorillas, showing similar calming results.
Music's Effect on the human body
Did you know there's such thing as 'Music Therapy'? It is often used for cancer patients, reducing stress for patients during surgery, brain disorders, or even calming children with ADHD. Many studies have been done showing that music therapy can also speed up the recovery of hospital patients (time.com).
Cancer.org states, "There is evidence that music therapy can reduce high blood pressure, rapid heart beat, depression, and sleeplessness...medical experts do believe it can reduce some symptoms, aid healing, improve physical movement, and enrich a patient’s quality of life......Other clinical trials have revealed a reduction in heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, insomnia, depression, and anxiety with music therapy. Studies have shown that music can affect brain waves, brain circulation, and stress hormones. These effects are usually seen during and shortly after the music therapy."
Further, "Studies have shown that students who take music lessons have improved IQ levels, and show improvement in nonmusical abilities as well. Other studies have shown that listening to music composed by Mozart produces a short-term improvement in tasks that use spatial abilities. Studies of brain circulation have shown that people listening to Mozart have more activity in certain areas of the brain. This has been called the “Mozart effect.” Although the reasons for this effect are not completely clear, this kind of information supports the idea that music can be used in many helpful ways" (cancer.org).
Even heavy metal can play a part in emotional healing. Many who struggle with depression or anxiety have a "mood boost" from listening to what they love. Listening to your fave tunes can also help some people concentrate. Researchers at McGill University in Montreal showed that listening to pleasurable music of any description induced 'musical chills', which triggered the release of the feel-good chemical dopamine" (www.netdoctor.co.uk). All the more reason to crank up the tunes.
Maybe the plants in our homes would thrive if we played more classical music?
Maybe I'm not that crazy for leaving the radio on for my animals when I'm not home?!
Maybe it's time we use music to help give us that "mood boost" we need to get us through a long day?
Maybe we can shorten a friend's recovery from surgery, or illness by making them a beautiful mix of classical music? It's worth a shot, right?
We may never know all of the benefits music has on us, but isn't it worth digging up some great tunes you love? And thanks to the Songza app, I can discover and enjoy music from all different artists, too.
But for now, it's time for a mood boost. I'm tuning in to Jazz 91. Oh how I love thee.
So crank up some tunes on this beautiful Family Day, and rock on.
References
http://stress.about.com/od/tensiontamers/a/music_therapy.htm
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1929994,00.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15025885
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)62251-9/fulltext
http://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternativemedicine/mindbodyandspirit/music-therapy
http://www.dovesong.com/positive_music/plant_experiments.asp
http://news.discovery.com/animals/zoo-animals/animals-music-120320.htm
http://www.livescience.com/4791-pets-enjoy-healing-power-music.html
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/healthy-living/wellbeing/health-benefits-of-music.htm
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