All of my life, music has played an important role in keeping me healthy as well as making me extremely happy. The kind of music I listen to daily, of course, depends upon my state of mind and mood. Some days I feel energetic and use rock music as exercise and dance to my favorite songs. Other times I want to create a quiet, meditative mood with softer music—often simply instrumental only. I adore music that has a message because I like to be exposed to all things that motivate and inspire me. When I am writing a poem or a blog or chatting with my friends online, I often have music playing in the background. When I have the opportunity, I have even shared some of my favorite musical selections with friends on Skype or Yahoo. Not a day goes by, that music does not fill my house or my car with such utter joy. 
Science and research show without any doubts that music is extremely beneficial for the mind and the body. It can be used for things like drowning out unpleasant sounds and feelings, such as the fear of hearing the drill sounds at a dentist office, to encouraging the release of tension that a person might feel. Music reduces stress by reducing cortisol levels, a chemical in the brain that causes a person to feel stress in the first place. Jazz, bluegrass and soft rock have been found to be especially effective at reducing stress and increasing health because of their similar musical qualities. Music affects the body’s blood pressure and pulse rate and even respiration. Slow music tends to calm one down and promote a slower breathing rate, and thus, also lower blood pressure and pulse rate due to relaxation. On the other hand, fast music will wake a person up and make him more aware of his surroundings by increasing his respiration rate and obviously increase his blood pressure and heart rate. It can reduce muscle tension and improve body movement and coordination. Exercise programs often use music, and of course, dancing requires music. Slower music has been proven through research studies to be the best type to reduce music tension and improve coordination. Listening to music strengthens memory and learning. For example, educators like to use songs to teach small children lessons in school. Amazingly enough, music has the power to boost the body’s immune system, to boost productivity, and to foster endurance. Music raises immune markers in the system, creating more antibodies to fight disease. This effect is compounding: Over time, the body can learn to recognize certain types of music (particularly choir or classical music) as immune boosting, continuing the improvement of the immune system. Another kind of music known as romantic music is used in many personal relationships to enhance the mood for love making and intimacy. Finally music can generate a sense of well-being and safety. Many parents use lullabies to calm a crying baby or to help a child fall asleep. Therefore, music is helpful for all people of all ages.
Music has even been used to repair brain damage. Melodic intonation therapy, or singing until one can talk, takes advantage of the fact that language functions are located in the left brain, but music lives in the right side of the brain. Thus, if a person loses his ability to speak, he can train his brain to move those functions to the other side by associating music with language. Listening to pleasant music also releases dopamine that simply makes certain parts of the brain function better (especially if the brain was damaged before). Music has been successful in overcoming an addiction. It can be relaxing and can create a distraction from withdrawal symptoms. Songwriting has helped some patients to confront impulse control and self-deception and has provided an outlet for negative emotions. Listening to music can aid in the detox stage of recovery from drug addiction, and if used frequently, can decrease the number of pain-killer medications patients need to take. Music directly affects chemical called neurotransmitters which relay information in the brain. Drugs make the brain lazy and convince it to stop making its own chemical. When a person stops taking the drug, the brain is not making enough natural chemical because the drug was providing a false chemical so the body now fails to function properly. Introducing music can increase the levels of some chemicals associated with heavy addictions, like dopamine and norepinephrine, and help to eliminate this problem over time. More scientific studies reveal that benefits of music being used to prevent seizures, regain lost memories, to cure Parkinson’s Disease, and even to increase spatial reasoning. It’s been shown that music by Mozart played on the piano reduces seizure-causing activity in the brain within five minutes of exposure, with many cases showing immediate results in what scientists should called Seizure Wolfgang-banging. Experimentation with other forms of music has been minimal, but for some reason there appears to be a connection between the brain and piano music. Medical practitioners have found that music shows the potential to unearth memories associated with music for patients, even ones in late stages of dementia. Listening to music engages many areas of the brain in both hemispheres, which is why it can create brain activity that other methods, like conversation, cannot. Another area it engages is the hippocampus, which handles long-term memory storage. When a person listens to music he knows, feelings associated with the song are returned by the hippocampus. Sometimes the memories even manage to come along with the relevant feelings. Even if memories are not recovered, emotions and attitudes are. Victims of Parkinson’s suffer from muscle spasms, locking muscles, and balance problems. As it turns out, applying music can instantly resolve the physical issues of Parkinson’s in many victims. Music can trick your broken, unresponsive body into obedience. Music also helps other Parkinson’s-related issues, including loss of balance and spasms. It has also been found that playing music creates an improvement in people with the disease, and drum circles are being used as treatment in music therapy groups. Finally, Mozart music, especially piano music, can raise your spatial reasoning the equivalent of nine IQ points. That is an average, meaning there are people who get even more of a boost from it. There are a lot of theories, but some claim that Mozart’s music focuses the listener more. Others say it increases activity in crucial regions of the brain. The scientific discoveries of the effects on music to our body are quite amazing and fascinating. When all is said and done, the main reason music plays such an essential part in my life is because I love it so much. It touches my heart. This feeling is expressed in my poem below.
MUSIC EMPOWERS MY HEART
By Randi D. Ward
Listen to the songs of my heart.
They are such a gigantic part.
Often they are lively as can be
And express the high energy in me.
Sometimes they are melancholy and sad
But that is not necessarily so very bad.
Listen to the songs of my soul.
They are what keep me healthy and whole.
They stimulate my innermost power
To control my life each and every hour.
For this reason I always feel blessed
Because they encourage me to do my best.
Listen to the songs that make me feel free.
They give me the inspiration to be me .
They enable me to strive for each dream.
No matter how impossible it may seem.
Because of this each challenge is a new test
In another unique and life changing quest.
Listen to the songs that make me sing out loud.
They make me feel alive and incredibly proud.
Music has guided my life for many long years
And has brought me much happiness as well as tears,
But they have molded my life and created the woman I have come to be
No matter how complicated at times—it is good to be me…..
Randi D. Ward
July 11, 2013
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