In one of my previous blog posts I discussed how certain types of music had the ability to get us out of bed in the morning and get us started for the rest of the day, but can it heal us? Many of us know that our favorite tunes can make us feel calm and reduce stress, it may even cure a broken heart! Research has found that music’s abilities go beyond that to help humans be cured of certain diseases.
One of these diseases in which music made the sufferer feel better is Parkinson’s disease. Researchers claim that the vibrations in certain music types made the Parkinson’s less severe. In an experiment in which 40 patients with the condition were exposed to one minute increments of low frequency 30-hertz vibration on and off for 10 minutes, most of them reported feeling reduced symptoms. This is very promising that it is possible to develop some sort of vibration therapy to help with the unfortunate disease. One problem I have with this study is that it was too black and white. Instead of exposing the patients to only 30-hertz vibrations for one minute, scientists should have experimented with other vibrations: fast and slow, for more extended periods of time. If they committed to more varied trials, the results could have been significantly more satisfying in that they could additionally decipher exactly which of the vibrations could help the patients the most.
Perhaps an even more significant trial was conducted on patients of Alzheimer’s disease. In this experiment the patients were exposed to 40-hertz sounds this time for 30 minutes a few times a week. After this so called “vibroacoustic therapy”, patients seemed to be improved in their condition. In one particular instance, one woman “could recall the names of her grandchildren more easily, and her husband reported good improvement in her condition.” Again with this trial, I think more could have been done to see which frequency within the vibroacoustic therapy worked the best with Alzheimer’s patients. Then, the therapy could therefore be perfected and used in regular practice to treat patients.
We know that our favorite songs can help feel better if we are feeling depressed or anxious, but this evidence proves that certain sounds and vibrations have the ability to heal physical diseases just as well as everyday mental shortcomings.
I found you blog quite intriguing, and well written with great supporting evidence and trails to back up your argument. Musical therapy or music people don’t normally think twice about, if they are sad they will either naturally play music that uplifts their mood or they will play music that emphasizes their depression. I did some research and “Biomedical researchers have found that music is a highly structured auditory language involving complex perception, cognition, and motor control in the brain, and thus it can effectively be used to retrain and reeducate the injured brain.” Check out this article, maybe you can add even more details about the neurological development and actual activity occurring in the brain. http://www.brainline.org/content/2011/03/how-music-helps-to-heal-the-injured-brain.html
Overall excellent blog!
This is a very promising start, but I agree just focusing on one or two sets of hertz vibrations doesn’t tell us too much especially since one was done for one minute while the other was done for 30 minutes. While a minute to 30 minutes with a difference of 10-herz is a pretty strong amount of time, the experiment was tested on completely different diseases. More trials need to be done with a multitude of hertz vibrations and time lengths and on more diseases. Along with this, one disease may only be able to withstand a certain level of vibrations, as opposed to another that may be more or less tolerable. If researchers continue looking into this, I feel a door can be let wide open and interesting relationships between music and diseases will become noticed.
This was a very informing blog, well written and used a lot of good solid information. I really liked how you broke down the first scientific study that was done on Parkinson’s disease, and knew what would make the studies findings more concrete. Personally I believe that music can really help a person on many levels. It defiantly relieves stress, but it also could have motivational benefits, including; getting someone pumped up for a game, or in the right mindset to get a ton of work done. Check out this article where they talk about musics motivational benefits in sports. http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/sportspsychology/a/061305.htm
wow! i liked this post so much that I event went back and read your previous ones. I love music and I agreed with everything right off the bat so I really found myself wanting to continue to read. I also know a great amount of people who have undergone musical therapy after experiencing some traumatic events, thank you for this