Music fights Stress
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” - Bob Marley
The number of patients opting for music therapy – in addition to the conventional medical intervention – is increasing day by day.
A popular Sunday morning interview with an estimated 5 million viewers aired recently on the day-to-day work of a music therapist, Glen Schifano. Glen who works at a Long Island children’s hospital encounters a variety of situations which include in a typical day pre- and post-surgical visits, parent-child facilitated interaction, premature infant intervention, outpatient visits, etc.
In the interview, Dr. Mark Atlas, head of this hospital had noted that the children in transplant tend to have difficulties with high blood pressure, both from medications and from pain. Relaxation, enjoyment, good positive mental state can help decrease blood pressure which actually improves their outcome. For children and their parents in an acute care hospital setting Glenn was quoted to say, "I try to keep in here and now, keep the child in here and now and be there for the family, musically and emotionally."
The story also explained that even therapists make use of music to assist in handling their personal stress responses.
How does Music address Stress?
One possible explanation for the relaxing effect in music appears to lie on its characteristics.
Music we all know is continuous and rhythmical. In a natural environment, threat or danger is perceived to be accompanied by drastic and sudden, unexpected sounds. A background of constant sound, on the other hand – if continuous and regular or rhythmical - suggests peaceful conditions. A continuous sound, particularly one that is pre-judged to be safe tends to eliminate all possible threat perceptions from the mindscape. Concord creates continuity because the notes typically have overtones or harmonies that will match the next notes in an audible way. By tying such notes in a relationship, consonance promotes pleasing effect and relaxation.
As regards rhythms in music, there is an automatic synchronization of our body rhythms as they help us mentally organizing the sound. What is more important here is the comfort we derive from such organizations.
The comfort could be attributed to the non-threatening assertions in music which not only consoles us but also inject confidence and sunshine, when we are down and depressed. For DeCasper and Sigafoos (1983), musical rhythms recall the pulse of the mother’s heart imprinted prenatally.
In this context, it is relevant to note that discontinuous sounds, even if they are soft and in low decibels (For instance, as we hear when the leaky tap drips) can disturb and frustrate us greatly. They can cause sleeplessness and fatigue.
Courtesy: Shri T.V.Sairam (President, NADA music therapy center, Chennai)