Music's Healing Powers

     Music is a really big part of my life. As a child I would fall asleep listening to music or just listen to sooth my mood. Even now I wake up listening to music and go to bed listening to music, its almost like a medicine to me. I just read an article in the Los Angeles Times called The hope of music's healing powers by Melissa Healy about how music is starting to play a roll in modern medicine. Music is said to be healing by music therapist but now neuroscientist are looking to uncover the scientific basis for music's healing powers. They are looking to understand how music can help rewire the brain affected by illness or injury. Pitch, harmony, melody, rhythm and emotion all components of music engage different regions of the brain. Most of those regions are important with speech and social interaction. "Music might provide an alternative entry point" to the brain, because it can unlock so many different doors into an injured or ill brain, said Dr. Gottfried Schlaugh, a Harvard University neurologist. If disease or trauma has disabled a brain region music can be used as a remedy. For about 1 in 5 patients who suffer a stroke, asphasia which is difficulty with speech is an effect. Schlaug and other researchers have found that practicing to express themselves with a simple form of singing significantly improved the fluency of their speech compared with patients whose speech therapy did not include singing. I found this article to be interesting because it amazes me how far medicine and technology have come. Hopefully within next few years we will start seeing music become more popular within the medical field to cure patients.