Can M-U-S-I-C Spell Relief?

Every day we are surrounded by things that can affect our mood, outlook, stress levels, and more. From the very air we inhale to the sounds of our environment. The sounds of Grand Central Station, for example, bring you a different feeling than the sounds of a desert completely devoid of humans. Modern science shows that these two different environments impact our health in different ways both emotionally and physically.

We have known for centuries that too much sunlight is unhealthy, as is too little. Inhaling polluted air isn't so great for you either. Having a job where you never seem to be able to get ahead on your workload is known to increase stress levels and have a negative physical impact on your body.

But something else that has also been known for years is the fact that music can also have positive and negative physiological effects on your body. This knowledge is not as widespread as, say, the effects of eating healthy, but those who do have this knowledge have been using it to their advantage for hundreds of years.

Relaxation music has been shown to help people relieve stress, sleep, heal, and just be happier overall. That relaxation music can have such a profound affect on the body may be difficult to believe for some folks. But consider how quickly the population is to believe that certain types of hard or heavy rock music are to blame for influencing their listeners to commit suicide, murder others, or even worship demons.

The Chinese, whose culture is ancient compared to other modern cultures, first noticed the positive effect of music on the body and mind thousands of years ago. The Holy Bible even tells the story of a king who suffered from depression. The only remedy this king found to be effective was the music that came from the boy David, who would one day be king himself, as he played his lyra.

But it has only been in the last few hundred years that anybody in the west has taken seriously the idea that music is good for the soul. The benefits of listening to relaxation music are studied more seriously today more than at any other point in the history of modern civilization. Findings seem to consistently show that music has the ability to bring pain relief, improve mood, quicken healing, and more. Interest is high due to music's ability to produce these results without the use of drugs.