How Does Music Improve Health & Wellness?

Ilene (Lee) Morris, Catholic Health Music Therapist, shares insights into the power of music therapy to improve our health and wellness. Morris also talks about Health & Harmony—a collaborative effort between The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame (LIMEHOF) and Catholic Health—to create programs that help to make music part of a healthy lifestyle. 

 

Q. What is music therapy?

The American Music Therapy Association defines music therapy as “an established health profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address individuals' physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs.” In music therapy, the patient works with a certified music therapist on specific, measurable goals using customized musical strategies designed to meet those goals. You do not have to be a musician to participate in and benefit from music therapy!

 

Q. What is the first thing that happens in music therapy?

A music therapy relationship always begins with an assessment, which enables the music therapist to understand the abilities and needs of the patient, their musical preferences, and whether music therapy may be helpful. Together, we create non-musical goals. Other therapeutic disciplines may address these same goals, but in music therapy, the exercises to reach these goals translate into musical experiences. Monitoring outcomes throughout will ensure progress.

 

Q. Who can benefit from music therapy?

Research has shown that music therapy can help patients looking to manage symptoms or recover from a wide variety of health conditions, including:

• Stroke
• Traumatic brain injuries
• Parkinson’s disease
• Dementia
• Chronic pain
• Clinical depression 
• Anxiety disorders
• Mood disorders

Q. What are the health benefits of music therapy?

Benefits of music therapy include:

• Improved physical/mental well-being
• Training and restoring functional skills
• Enhancing learning and memory
• Slowing cognitive decline due to aging or illness
• Increasing pleasure and enjoyment
• Developing a sense of pride and accomplishment
• Exploring a form of creative self-expression
• Fostering social connections and belonging
• Lessening stress, pain and medication usage

Q. Can you give examples of a music therapy session? 

Example 1: A teenage patient recovering from a traumatic brain injury and related motor deficits.  

During the assessment, the music therapist learned that the teen needs to improve their upper body range of motion but often feels tired and discouraged. 

The teen is a fan of the song “Thunder” by the band Imagine Dragons, so the therapist positions an array of drums that require stretching and reaching in various directions to strike the instruments. The song “Thunder” provides a rhythmic backdrop. The familiar music is upbeat, adding motivation to the exercise and a timeframe for maintaining movement. Each time the drum plays, the patient receives auditory feedback, or sound information, about how well they contact the targets, enabling them to gauge efforts to create musical sound. After mastering the exercise, the drums move farther apart to increase the movement challenge.  

Repetition is key to making gains, and such a musical context can help make exercise more enjoyable, leading to better compliance and outcomes.

 

Example 2: A patient with Parkinson’s disease.

During the assessment, the music therapist learned that the patient has trouble being heard by family members when speaking. Hypophonia, or soft speech, is a common symptom of Parkinson’s disease. This patient loves doo-wop music and misses going to oldies concerts. The music therapist determines that treatment will include exercises and strategies to strengthen the muscles involved in speaking and breathing to improve communication. A session includes a posture check, warm-up scales, breath and articulation exercises performed to music, blowing a kazoo, taking a hydration break, visualization, and singing favorite songs (in this case, doo-wop) with focus and intention.  

In addition to noticing and regulating vocal volume, the patient’s mood improves because of interacting deeply with music that means so much to them. The patient is inspired to join Loud & Lyrical, a therapeutic choral group for people with Parkinson’s disease who work on vocal communication skills in a fun and social atmosphere.

 

Q. How is music therapeutic?

Music is a complex form of stimulation. Think about when you hear a favorite song and how you react physically or psychologically to the beat, rhythm and harmony.

An upbeat song can make you tap your toes, clap your hands, or move your body along with the music. Sometimes, it is hard not to move to an upbeat, rhythmic song! This tendency is why music can be a powerful tool for people with sensorimotor problems. Music primes the motor system and provides rhythmic and other cues that help to guide and control movement.

Rhythm and form are the components that provide structure and predictability, help the brain organize information, and aid in the initiation and timing of movements. At the same time that we hear the rhythm, there are notes, or pitches, and sequences of pitch that we call melody, which aid in making musical sections, or “chunks,” memorable and retrievable. A song with lyrics can communicate meaningful ideas to us, and these words, when associated with the melody, also can become more effectively stored in our memory, making music an essential mnemonic aid. This ability of music to aid in accessing information learned in the past has important implications in the treatment of people with cognitive impairments.

The harmony of a piece of music plays a huge role in conveying mood and emotions and can make engaging with music a powerful experience. It can be affirming and empowering to hear a piece of music that reflects how you are feeling. Music with specific harmonic or tempo considerations can elicit changes in the listener’s mood or activity level. The right music can improve mood, increase motivation, reduce anxiety and induce restfulness. 

Considering that all these elements are present simultaneously and interactively as you experience the music, it is amazing. You hear it as one entity, but your brain also registers the parts and responds. This is why music contributes to an integrative, whole-brain experience and why music therapy can address many issues that impact function and wellness. 

 

Q. Can you give examples of the physical benefits of music therapy? 

People recovering from health conditions

Music can improve the efficiency of a person’s bilateral movement, which is using both sides of the body in a coordinated way to perform a task, like walking. The steady beat of a rhythmic song can provide a metered template for taking steps.  

Think about if you have ever tapped your feet to an upbeat tune. Then you know how music can compel movement, even without thinking about it! You move rhythmically and steadily because the music shapes your movement's timing and quality.  

For people with an uneven walking pattern or gait due to an impairment like a stroke or brain injury or from a disorder such as Parkinson’s disease, music can help condition the body to take steadier and safer steps by taking advantage of the natural tendency to perceive and synchronize to rhythmic cues. 

A person's tendency to synchronize how they move according to external cues they hear is known as entrainment. The therapeutic technique that uses the entrainment process to improve walking is called Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS).

Always consult your physical therapist before making changes to a therapeutic exercise regimen.

 

People looking to improve physical health

Regular exercise is critical to managing weight, strengthening bones and muscles, reducing disease risk, optimizing brain function, and improving your ability to do everyday activities. Certain types of music can strongly influence our motivation to move. It provides the drive that helps us power through sets and repetitions. Since movement tends to match the mood of the music, your workout can be more effective with intense, fast-paced, and motivational music.  

You may even find your endurance improved, and you can work your body longer and more intensely. Music has an ergogenic effect on us, which means it can delay or reduce our perception of exertion or fatigue and increase our endurance and physical productivity. You are less likely to give up when a song you like distracts you from feeling tired or losing interest. Additionally, through lyrics or other associations, a song can send a specific message encouraging us to keep trying and pushing limits, inspiring us to work and challenge ourselves.

 

Q. Can you give examples of the psychological benefits of music therapy?  

Research has shown music’s ability to reduce stress and anxiety. Listening to music with a tempo of around 60-80 beats per minute can cause a physiological response that includes slowing respiratory rate, lowering heart rate, and reducing blood pressure, which promotes relaxation and counteracts stress.  

At the neurochemical level, music helps to decrease the production of cortisol, the stress hormone that alerts our brains to threats but, in excess, can contribute to feelings of anxiety and tension.  

Slow, steady music tends to have a soothing effect that can help when trying to fall asleep. Upbeat music, at a tempo of about 90 beats per minute or higher, helps to boost your mood and shift your emotional state. Dopamine, a “feel-good” chemical that can boost your mood and reward you, is released in the brain in connection with hearing your favorite pieces of music.  

 

Q. Can you give examples of the cognitive benefits of music therapy?

Music is an attention grabber. Even in a noisy atmosphere, we notice if music starts playing. When we pay attention to music, we also become aware of its construction, tonal qualities, overall mood, and semantic content if it has words. 

Brain injuries and other impairments impact memory, but therapeutic techniques using musical cues can help someone recover words, information, and memories by channeling the music-memory connection. Music activates numerous brain structures, which means more brain power is available for an associated task at hand—strengthening and reorganizing connectivity between these structures in a process called neuroplasticity.

 

Q. Can you give examples of the social benefits of music therapy?

Music has the power to promote bonding between people. When music plays, we are all “one”—engaged in the same experience simultaneously. Shared emotional experiences result in enhanced relationships. 

Group music listening can also foster connections between people who listen to sounds and experience the feelings those sounds generate together. Consider if you have ever attended a concert and felt part of something bigger as you joined fellow fans swaying to the same beat.

Music is also a great conversation starter for discovering shared musical interests or learning about new music. It is especially a good subject for chatting with someone with memory challenges because music can promote social engagement, kindle a sense of joy and tap into memories. People with health infirmities may welcome an opportunity to talk about something enjoyable and meaningful, like music.

Through music, we may find a representation of our true self that is healthy, whole and vibrant, irrespective of our current physical condition.

 

Q. What is Health & Harmony?

Health & Harmony is a collaborative effort between The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame (LIMEHOF) and Catholic Health to engage, educate and inspire Long Islanders about the positive effects of music on their health.

You can find playlists, self-care workshops and community-focused Long Island events for any goal—to relax, get motivated, and find comfort. Catholic Health’s Health & Harmony team has created music and sounds to support your health goals. 

Some playlists you can download now:

• Let’s Get Moving
• Finding Calm 
• Memory Lane