Music naturally improves health and relieves pain without harmful side effects

Monday, February 15, 2016 by: L.J. Devon, Staff Writer
Tags: medicinal music, pain relief, side effects

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(NaturalNews) It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from; everyone can relate to the euphoric feelings that come while listening to their favorite music. The vibrations of sound, building into rhythm and melody, communicate with our bodies in powerful ways, affecting our emotions, our energies and even our pain threshold.

Now, scientists are beginning to measure music-related changes in the brain, not just in terms of dopamine but also in opioid signals. Over 400 published scientific papers prove that music is a universal language that speaks to the natural healing abilities of our bodies. The immune system and the nervous system of the body literally respond to the medicine of music. Music is capable of reducing anxiety levels and regulating mood on a level that pharmaceuticals could never come close to. The newest studies find that music is not only therapeutic, helping people cope, relate and retrieve memory, but can also be used as an evidence-based intervention to cure anxiety, provide energy or reduce pain on the spot.

"We've found compelling evidence that musical interventions can play a health care role in settings ranging from operating rooms to family clinics," said Professor Daniel Levitin of McGill University's Psychology Department. "But even more importantly, we were able to document the neurochemical mechanisms by which music has an effect in four domains: management of mood, stress, immunity and as an aid to social bonding."

Anticipation of favorite songs increases dopamine production

The research finds that simply anticipating a favorite song creates changes in the brain. The brain signaling chemical that's linked to reward – dopamine - actually surges when someone is anticipating hearing a favorite song. When the music comes on, dopamine continues to be produced, creating a pleasurable feeling in the body.

Music that speaks to the heart, ultimately regulates opioid production in the brain

Remarkably, Levitin found an even greater medicinal discovery for music. Music that speaks to the heart of the individual ultimately unleashes a wave of positive influence on the person's body (in the form of opioid production) helping the person's overall outlook and ability to manage pain. It could be that the music speaks to the electromagnetic field of the listener, creating feelings that directly communicate with the brain in positive ways, regulating its opioid signals.

In his studies, Levitin found that, when opioid signals in the brain are blocked by the drug naltrexone, the amount of pleasure people have listening to their favorite song diminishes. The study suggests that music may stimulate the release of endogenous opioid peptides within the brain.

Opioid regulation in the brain is the key for pain management, and music ultimately affects the opioid signals by communicating with the energy body of the individual. In many cases, music can be used to reduce the need for deadly opioid painkillers. Levitin's team also found that music helps create the heart-based feelings that communicate with the brain to help people cope with stress, social affiliation, trust building and social bonding. They found that music ultimately helps regulate a plethora of brain chemicals, inclduing dopamine, opioids, cortisol, serotonin and oxytocin.

"We know music facilitates active neurochemical processes in a symphony of opioids which pharmaceutical intervention has been unable to match," said Dr. Francis Chandra. "We've had residents where we could reduce psychotropic drugs or have them come off, and we could see benefits to staff with improvements in morale and engagement."

The dependence on opioid painkillers throughout the medical system could all be broken, if only we would open up our hearts to the medicine of music. The euphoria and nostalgia that music brings speaks through channels we cannot see, regulating the chemicals in our brain, helping us manage stress and pain.

Sources include:

MyScienceAcademy.org

McGill.ca