Music for the ears and health

• April 25, 2024

If it is true that sound and music are part of human nature, it is logical to think that they can also be used as therapy . The history of music therapy in the West goes back to Pythagoras (6th century BC), although the Egyptians already used music as an element able to heal the body , calm the mind and purify the soul. However, the Greek philosopher discovered that the tones and their harmonies obeyed a mathematical proportion and, as the numbers reflected for Pythagoras the perfect order of the universe, the music became a powerful medicine that brought harmony to the organism.

It is said that the Pythagoreans, musicians and mathematicians of the time, already made compositions to treat the disorders of the soul and the body.

Musical notes as medicine

For official music therapy, there are two main types of music in relation to their effects; On the one hand, sedative music (of melodic nature and characterized by having regular rhythm, predictable dynamic and harmonic consonant) and, on the other, stimulating music (which induces action and triggers emotions). Music therapists have studied the effects of each of the elements that make up music and sound.

So, for example, the tempo slow, between 60 and 80 bpm (beats per minute in English or beats per minute) elicits impressions of dignity, calm, serenity, tenderness and sadness, while tempos Fast from 100 to 150 bpm joy , excitement Y force . Consonant chords - composed of notes that combine well - are associated with balance, rest and joy, while dissonant ones are associated with restlessness, desire, worry and agitation. The tonality of major way is happy, alive, graceful and extroverted, and the one of minor way evokes melancholy and introversion.

Music and testosterone

The Japanese researcher Hajime Fukui discovered that men who make music, produce less testosterone and cortisol, hormones related to the stress . Instead, they produce more oxytocin, the hormone that promotes social and sexual union. Fukui concluded that the music reduces fear and increases solidarity between people. From the neurological point of view, according to specialists Anne Blood and Robert Zatorre , from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, music also acts on brain chemistry: in times of maximum musical pleasure, areas of the brain are activated that also ignite during sexual intercourse, drug use or chocolate intake.

Video Medicine: Sound Advice: Tips for Healthy Ears (April 2024).