Music Therapy For Reducing Pain and Anxiety

'Music isn't only for entertainment. It is an art form whose medium is sound and silence and whose power is endless. A new study reported in The Journal of Pain concludes that listening to music can be effective for reducing pain and high-anxiety.'

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'Music therapy has also been used to temporarily open up areas of memory for Alzheimer's patients. And in one study, mood and function significantly improved in subjects with dementia who learned that when they pushed a button they would be rewarded with a familiar song. 

In research conducted by Dr. Schlaug, stroke victims who developed speech impairments were taught to improve speech fluency by expressing themselves with a chant-like form of singing.'

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The Power of Music

Music can literally work wonders for people with Parkinson’s, dementia, or strokes. A leading music therapist talks about how caregivers can make the best use of it.

'A man in his late 60s has a stroke and loses his speech. After two years of intense speech therapy, he still can’t talk. From a treatment standpoint, he’s considered “hopeless.”

A music therapist hears him singing a few words — all that he can get out — of “Ol’ Man River” and begins singing with him or accompanying him on the accordion a few times a week. Within two months, he’s crooning that entire song, and others, and has begun to recover his speech.'

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Music as Medicine: 7 Ways Music Breaks Can Improve Your Health

http://www.musictherapy.org/

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'Unplugging from the daily rigors of life and recharging with music may be one of the most beneficial things to do for your body. Recent studies have shown that music may have a beneficial effect on your body's immunity and overall health. This then gives your body a better chance to fight off disease and protect itself against the attacks of many illnesses. Below are some of the ways in which unplugging from stress and recharging with music may improve your life. But the ways in which music impacts your health may surprise you.'

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