Using Music as Medicine – finding the optimum music listening ‘dosage’
January 1st, 2022
Lyz Cooper
An excerpt of a longer study that explores music as a healing factor. With the advancement of technology, we can look deeper into the brain than ever before and gain a greater understanding of how and why music is such a powerful healing tool.
Posted byHugo Jimenez
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Abstract/Description
Humans have used music to improve health and wellbeing for tens of thousands of years. Evidence
has been found in caves dating back to the Palaeolithic era which shows that up to 40,000 years ago
humans were making music.1 Over thousands of years humans have evolved to respond to music in
certain ways. With the advancement of technology, we can look deeper into the brain than ever
before and gain a greater understanding of how and why music is such a powerful healing tool.
Music improves health and wellbeing by affecting our neurochemical systems for reward and
pleasure; stress and arousal; immunity; and social affiliation.2 Levitin (2013) states, ‘many people use
music to regulate mood and arousal, much as they use caffeine or alcohol’ 2. To many people, music
is an important part of their health and wellbeing – a musical supplement if you like. These ‘sonic
vitamins’ play just as important a role as a morning coffee or glass of wine in the evening. Many
studies have been conducted to help us understand how and why music affects mind body and
emotions over the years but there is a significant gap in research that explores how we use music to
help us process every-day emotions, self-regulate and even self-medicate. There is also little
research that explores what it is about the music that we find most effective. Is there a magic
ingredient or ‘sonic vitamin’ within a piece and which genre(s) are most commonly used by
individuals? Time also played an important factor – how long does it take before one receives the
intended therapeutic benefit? If an optimum time was found, one could then suggest a dosage of
music for different intended therapeutic outcomes.
has been found in caves dating back to the Palaeolithic era which shows that up to 40,000 years ago
humans were making music.1 Over thousands of years humans have evolved to respond to music in
certain ways. With the advancement of technology, we can look deeper into the brain than ever
before and gain a greater understanding of how and why music is such a powerful healing tool.
Music improves health and wellbeing by affecting our neurochemical systems for reward and
pleasure; stress and arousal; immunity; and social affiliation.2 Levitin (2013) states, ‘many people use
music to regulate mood and arousal, much as they use caffeine or alcohol’ 2. To many people, music
is an important part of their health and wellbeing – a musical supplement if you like. These ‘sonic
vitamins’ play just as important a role as a morning coffee or glass of wine in the evening. Many
studies have been conducted to help us understand how and why music affects mind body and
emotions over the years but there is a significant gap in research that explores how we use music to
help us process every-day emotions, self-regulate and even self-medicate. There is also little
research that explores what it is about the music that we find most effective. Is there a magic
ingredient or ‘sonic vitamin’ within a piece and which genre(s) are most commonly used by
individuals? Time also played an important factor – how long does it take before one receives the
intended therapeutic benefit? If an optimum time was found, one could then suggest a dosage of
music for different intended therapeutic outcomes.
