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Music is a fundamental virtue of the human race. Virtually all cultures, from the most ancient to the most modern, make music. This has been true throughout history, and it has been true throughout an individual's life. In lyrics or not, we humans sing and dare. In time or not, we clap. Step by step or not, we dance and bounce.

The human brain and nervous system are rigid to distinguish music from noise and to respond to rhythm and repetition, accents and gestures. Is it a biological accident, or does it serve a purpose? It is not possible to say. Still, a diverse group of studies suggests that music can enhance human health and performance.

1. Music and the brain:

Like any sound, music comes to the ear in the form of sound waves. The outer ear collects sound waves, and the ear canal carries them to the ear. When the waves hit the ear, they vibrate. The vibrations are burned with a chain of small bones in the middle ear until they reach the third bone, the stapes, which connect to the cochlea.

Kochlia is a busy world. It contains about 10,000 to 15,000 small fluid cells, or cells, circulating around it. The vibrations of the steps send waves of liquid through a spiral-shaped coil. Fluid waves make rapid movements of hair cells. As a result, these cells release chemical neurotransmitters that stimulate the auditory nerve, and send small electrical currents into the auditory cortex into the temporal lobe of the brain.

From there, things get even more complicated. Studies using MRI and positron emission tomography (PET) scans show that neural networks in different parts of the brain have a primary responsibility for decoding and interpreting different features of music. For example, it is important to know the pitch of a small area of the right temporal lobe, which is the melody (the shape of the pitch over time), the melody (sounds that sound multiple sounds at the same time) and the harmony (two). Or more melodies) forms the basis at the exact same time). Another nearby center is responsible for understanding wood, a standard that allows the brain to distinguish between different instruments that are playing the same note. A different part of the brain, the cerebellum, processes the rhythm, and the frontal lobe interprets the emotional content of the music. And music that is powerful enough to have a "backbone color" can illuminate the "reward center" of the brain, just like pleasant stimuli from alcohol to chocolate.

Although every healthy human brain can perform all the complex tasks required to understand music, the minds of musicians, in order to speak, adapt to these tasks more subtly. At the other end of the spectrum, patients with brain damage may show significant defects in the musculoskeletal system. Well known neurologist and author Dr. Oliver Sax discusses many interesting types of amoebae in his book Music Philia.

The neurobiology of music is a highly specialized field. But music also has a big impact on many aspects of health, from memory and mood to cardiovascular function and athletic performance.

2. Music and the mind:

The most common mental influence of music is the "Mozart effect". Surprised by the observation that many musicians have extraordinary mathematical abilities, Erin, a researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, investigated how listening to music affects academic work in general and local time reasoning in particular.

In their first study, they compared 10 groups of college students who spent 10 minutes listening to a Mozart piano sonata with a group administered standard IQ test questions to a relaxation tape and a That was quietly waiting to be heard. Mozart was the winner, constantly increasing the test score. Investigators then examined whether the effect was specific to classical music or whether any form of music would increase mental performance. He compared Philip Glass's repetitive music to repetitive music. Again, Mozart will be assisted in improving local reasoning as measured by complex paper cutting and folding tasks and short-term memory as measured by the 16-item test.

How can music enhance cognitive performance? It's not clear, but researchers have speculated that listening to music helps regulate the firing of nerve cells in the right half of the brain, the part of the brain responsible for higher functions. According to this construction, music - or at least some form of music - acts as an "exercise" that warms selected brain cells, allowing them to process information more efficiently. This is an interesting theory, but before you rush to stock up on Mozart's music recordings, you should know that even in actual research, the "Mozart effect" is modest (8 to 9 IQ points) and temporary ( 15 minutes). And reviewing Mozart's 16 studies of music and human cognitive function, Harvard psychologists concluded that the effect was even less, amounting to no more than 2.1 IQ points. This is a difficult note, but there is hardly any requirement for the theory that music can promote cognitive functions.

In fact, different results should precede further research. And even if listening to music has a slightly long-term effect on cognition, a 2010 review found that learning to play an instrument helps the brain to master language skills, memory and attention-related tasks. Capacity may increase.

3. Music and stress:

In every age of human history and in every society around the world, music has allowed people to express their emotions and communicate with others. More than just expressing emotions, music can change them. As the British playwright William Congrio put it in 1697, "Music has a tendency to soothe the wild breast."

A New York study examines how music affects surgical patients. Forty cataract patients, aged 74 to 74, volunteered for the trial. Half were randomly assigned to general care. Others received the same care but also listened to music of their choice via headphones before, during and immediately after the operation. Prior to surgery, patients in both groups had similar blood pressure. One week before the operation, the average was 129/82 mm Hg. Just before surgery, the average blood pressure in both groups was 159/92, and the average heart rate in both groups was 17 beats per minute. But the quiet patient remained hypertensive throughout the operation, while the pressure from the music listeners plummeted and settled down in the recovery room, where the average low impact was an impressive 35 mm Hg systolic (upper number).

And 24 mm Hg diastolic (bottom number) listeners also reported that they felt calmer and better during the operation. Eye surgeons had no difficulty communicating with their patients to the sound of music, but the researchers did not ask the doctors if their patients' blood pressure readings were better because of their work. Get more rest. Preliminary research, however, found that surgeons showed fewer symptoms of stress and performed better while listening to self-selected music.

A study of 80 patients undergoing urologic surgery under spinal anesthesia found that a music supplement may reduce the need for anesthesia sedation. In this trial, patients were able to control the amount of side effects they received during their operation. Patients who were randomly assigned to listen to music needed less sedation than those who listened to white noise or chapters and rioters in the operating room.

In cataract and urological surgery studies, patients were awake during their operation. But a study of 10 critically ill postoperative patients found that music can reduce stress response even when patients are unconscious. All patients were receiving powerful intravenous propofol, so they could be retained in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on breathing machines. Half of the patients were randomly assigned to wear headphones that moved slowly from the Mozart piano sonat, while the other half wore headphones that did not play music. Nurses who did not know which patients were listening to the music said that those who listened to the music needed significantly less propofol to maintain deeper safety than patients wearing silent headphones. Music recipients had low blood pressure and heart rate, as well as low blood levels of the stress hormone adrenaline and the cytokine interleukin-6, which promotes inflammation.

None of the operating room studies described the nature of the music used, while the ICU trial did not use slow classical music. A study of 24 healthy Italian volunteers, half of whom were skilled musicians, found that tempo was important. Slow or meditative music created a calming effect.

4. Musical Medics:

According to Arnold Steinhard, a founding member of the Garnier String Quartet and a former violinist, chamber music fans almost always include a healthcare practitioner. There is medicine and music that connects the road, perhaps music is an equally effective agent of healing, and doctors and musicians are part of a larger poem that serves the needs of mankind. Recognize status. "

Many doctors love music, and many are fine musicians in their own right, playing everything from Dixieland to rock. There are classical orchestras in Boston, New York, LA, Philadelphia and Houston exclusively for doctors and medical students, so nothing can be said about such groups abroad. It's not just a matter of education or income. Atlanta has no orchestra other than the Lawyer Orchestra, consisting of lawyers, engineers, computer scientists or bankers. And many medical schools have started courses that use music to shape the listening skills of future physicians.

5. Music and mood:

It's one thing to relax the nerves of the forest. Another, rising sagging spirits. Bright, cheerful music can make people of all ages feel happy, excited and alert, and it also plays a role in relieving the mood of people suffering from depression.

An authoritative review of research conducted between 1994 and 1999 found that in four trials, music therapy reduced the symptoms of depression, while a fifth study found no benefit. A 2006 study of 60 people with chronic pain found that music was able to reduce pain, depression and disability. And a 2009 meta-analysis found that relaxation with the help of music can improve sleep quality in patients with sleep disorders.

6. Music and movement:

Falling is a serious medical problem, especially for people over the age of 65. In fact, one in three senior citizens suffers at least one fall a year. Can music help? A 2011 study suggests that this could happen. Subjects 134 men and women 65 years of age and older who were at risk of falling but who were free of neurological problems and orthopedic problems that restricted walking.

Half of the volunteers were randomly assigned to a program that trained them to walk along with music and perform various movements, while others continued their normal activities. At the end of six months, the "dancers" showed better gait and balance than their peers - and they also experienced a 54% lower fall. Similar music programs appear to improve the mobility of patients with Parkinson's disease.

7. Music and muscles:

Although iPods are perfect for relaxing, relieving stress, lowering blood pressure and playing classical music, most tempo pop music is used to explode, especially during workouts. Many athletes lean on their music - but do their performances really benefit them?

Perhaps a UK study compared rock, dance, inspirational music and no music to the runners' performance. Many athletes think that music is helpful, but it did not increase their endurance. On the other hand, another US study has found that music has increased the tolerance of treadmills. Israeli investigators have reported that the music boosted the fast anaerobic power on a motorcycle aromatometer, but the benefit was minimal.