1. Music can help reduce your blood pressure and heart rate. (So much for the GP telling me I had to do lots of exercise to reduce my blood pressure! I joke. I'm still swimming.)
2. Even if you listen to sad music, it will still lift your mood and reduce your stress levels. (I love sad songs. I have playlists full of them.)
3. Making music, either singing or with instruments, is a recognised method of improving people's cognitive functions. (I play piano and guitar - badly - but I still get great satisfaction from it.)
4. Music therapy has been shown to help stroke patients, especially with emotions and social interaction.
5. Both playing and listening to music can help patients with dementia and amnesia.
The arguments in favour of music as therapeutic seem to be pretty decisive. In which case, why isn't music therapy offered by GPs instead, or alongside, anti-depressants?
My favourite way of listening to music right now is on Spotify. Below is a section of one of my favourite playlists. I can spend hours scrolling through all the songs on Spotify. It's my idea of musical bliss.
What is your idea of musical bliss?
I love music too. I have special playlists, for running, songs for my grandson (Nelly the Elephant is one, although that is now wearing a bit thin, I must have heard it a hundred times) and songs that I downloaded for my dad when he was poorly (mostly Edmodo Ross and Eddy Duchin) which I haven't the heart to get rid of now he is gone. Do you dance around the kitchen? I do. You are right, music is therapeutic, a real mood lifter and a great reminder of earlier times and people you love.
ReplyDelete"a real mood lifter and a great reminder of earlier times and people you love." I so agree, Andrea, and I'd also like to be able to dance round the kitchen but it's one of those little narrow ones... which doesn't entirely stop me. I dance sideways up and down!!
DeletePaul Rodgers (Free, Bad Company) AOL rock.
ReplyDeleteIt's been known for a while that playing music to cows increases their milk yield. (If you play the right music......) http://www.le.ac.uk/press/press/moosicstudy.html
Cows?! Milk yield?! How funny, Anne, to introduce an agricultural theme to the discussion! I hadn't thought about it like that but, of course, there's the infamous 'playing music to your plants' practice too.
DeleteAhhhh! I see Richard Marx on there...what a song, what nostalgia! These facts are fascinating to me and I must throw some cd's in the car!
ReplyDeleteHi Andrea, yes it's a lovely song, isn't it. I've popped over to your blog and love your A to Z topic. I shall peruse. Thanks for visiting.
DeleteHi Ros - I love music ... but really need someone to put together playlists for me .. I usually work in silence with the bird song .. and am very happy!! Cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteI wonder if birdsong has the same therapeutic effect. Keep being happy, Hilary.
DeleteI guess it's what floats your boat! I love music ... but find I can get distracted by it at times .... whereas the great outdoors will always provide so interruption moments, as well as leaving the screeching seagulls to do their thing - they drive me nutty at times!! and I'm happy.. lovely weather .. cheers H
DeleteI sing in a choir (we did a concert last night - Weber might not have recognised every note, but we were almost wonderful!). It's one of the very few things I do where I can't think about anything else - cos if I do I'm the wally that comes in at the wrong time and on the wrong note. Which means it takes over my whole head - it's simply wonderful!!
ReplyDeleteI thought of your choir as I wrote this blog, Jo. But the therapeutic effect is more than just having to concentrate on your singing part. It goes deeper and yes, it's wonderful!
DeleteI loooove to sing! I had to give up my choir for the semester because I had too much going on, but can't wait to get back to it in the fall. You're totally right - music is *great* for stress relief!
ReplyDeleteShame you've had to give up your choir but keep listening to music and that helps too.
Deleteexcellent playlist!! I use Songza app and they have predone playlists with themes. It pulls in a variety of stuff that I might not own or want to own, but are amusing for patio sitting. I can't sing, can't play an instrument, but I can enjoy other talented folks.
ReplyDeleteNot heard of that one but Spotify has predone lists if you want them.
DeleteWhat a great post! So good to know music is so therapeutic. I agree it should be prescribed, Ros! I love both making and listening to music. I confess to playing guitar, mandolin and violin at pretty basic levels but I love them. I still buy CDs for listening though. I've lost too much music with computer failures…oh and I love singing along too!
ReplyDeleteWe should get together on our guitars. Sounds like we'd complement each other nicely!
DeleteThere's a video on Youtube about Alzheimer's patients. Each one was given and I-Pod with music. Like magic it transformed these people. If only I could remember the title.
ReplyDeleteThat is amazing but I reiterate, why don't GPs take this idea on board?!
DeleteI used to be one of those people who didn't like music. But that was only because I was constantly being exposed to music that wasn't my taste at all. I believe there's always something you can enjoy.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, Vanessa, there are so many different kinds of music :-)
DeleteYou are far more technologically advanced than I am - the world of digital music has so far eluded me.
ReplyDeleteIt's truly not as hard as it sounds, Lizzy. Just go to the website and it does it for you!
DeleteI agree, music is great therapy but not heard about it helping people with various forms of dementia. Definitely should be available on the N.H.S. Music for me is very evocative of past memories,loves,hopes and wishes for the future. Sadly, I cannot dance very well but make my best efforts with happy music. Your play list on Spotify is lovely, Rosalind, maybe in the future you will post some more of your favourite music. Petra.
ReplyDeleteThere is certainly a special nostalgic 'something' about music, isn't there, Petra.
DeleteI love spotify I can play my seventies music to my hearts content.
ReplyDeleteKnow what you mean, Anne. If only I'd had Spotify when I was a teenager I would have been in seventh heaven!
DeleteNone if this surprises me. Music is such calming influence. I remember playing music to D while she was still inside me - classical..at bathtime. Now Little G will sit and listen to classical music too. I gather there has been research done to find the ''best'' music to shop by ... I listen to 'Breakfast' on Radio 3 ...then have some favourites on You-Tube, so I can watch them being performed. Lovely,
ReplyDeleteI don't remember playing music to my two before they were born although they were exposed to a lot of my 'middle of the road' music. Hope I've not done them too much damage!
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