Summary

Music has significant health benefits, including aiding in recovery from mental illness, reducing pain, stress, and anxiety, and potentially boosting the immune system.

Abstract

The article discusses the therapeutic effects of music, illustrated by the story of David Binanay, who used violin playing to manage his schizophrenia. Binanay's personal account details how music helped him cope with psychotic episodes and fear, eventually leading to his recovery and the establishment of a non-profit to bring music to those with mental illness. The article also cites scientific research supporting the idea that music can alleviate pain, reduce the need for anesthesia, decrease stress and anxiety, and possibly enhance immune system function. It suggests that music stimulates the brain's pleasure centers, akin to the effects of humor or tasty food, and concludes that music therapy is a noninvasive, affordable, and effective method for improving health and happiness with no harmful side effects.

Opinions

Music is seen as a powerful tool for mental health recovery, as evidenced by David Binanay's experience with schizophrenia.
The article conveys that music can be as effective as medication in managing mental health conditions, with Binanay switching to monthly injections to complement his music therapy.
There is an emphasis on the potential of music to not only provide emotional support but also to have physiological benefits, such as reducing pain and stress.
The consensus among researchers is that music does trigger pleasure in the brain, similar to other enjoyable activities and substances.
The author maintains that music therapy is a practical and risk-free option for health improvement, contrasting it with medications that may have unpleasant side effects.
Stefan Koelsch's opinion underscores the safety of music as a therapeutic intervention, highlighting its lack of harmful side effects compared to medical treatments.

The Health Benefits of Music

Music and The Mind

It was a gastrointestinal bleed. Binanay had experienced one before and he called his mom to let her know what was happening. She wanted to help, but David stopped her.

"Don't worry about it. I'm going to handle it myself," he said.

This was the first time Binanay tried to handle a serious health issue on his own.

When he arrived at the hospital, things began to spiral out of control. His hands started shaking, and his mind began to separate from reality. "It was my first psychotic episode," David recalls.

The situation went downhill fast. After resolving the bleeding issue and leaving the hospital, Binanay's psychosis continued. He started having delusions and became fearful of everything. "I couldn't even walk into a grocery store because of the fear," he says. "I didn't really know what I was afraid of, but I feared for my life.

In the span of one week, I went from being normal to having a complete psychotic breakdown."

This was the peak of David's psychosis, but his battle was just beginning. He would struggle with schizophrenia for the next five years.

His medications worked, but David had trouble sticking to them. There was one thing, however, that always seemed to help.

"My dad would look at me and say, 'Dave, go get your violin.'"

The Healing Power of Music

Music stopped the pain. "Every time I played, I noticed a change," David said. "I would channel my emotions through my music. The fear would turn to music. It would turn to sound."

A new medication schedule helped too. David found it much easier to stick to his medication when he switched from pills to injections, which he only needed once per month.

Today, after a five-year battle, Binanay has made a full recovery.

He plays his violin up to 10 hours per day and runs a non-profit, Music Over Mind, that performs free music shows at hospitals for people suffering from mental illness.

"Music has been my catalyst for recovery," Binanay says. "It has been a 180-degree turnaround. From complete loss to total rebirth. I recently got married. I have my own place with my wife.

I feel like I'm a better person than before my illness."

David Binanay's story raises an interesting series of questions. What is music therapy? Can music help heal us? What role does music play in our health and happiness? Can music be a form of medicine?

Let me share what I've learned about the health benefits of music.

The Research: Music as Medicine

First, music can be used to relieve pain in patients. For example, surgery patients at the Cleveland Clinic who listened to recorded music experienced a fourfold decrease in post-surgical pain. Music has also been shown to reduce the amount of anesthesia needed during operations.
Second, music can be used to relieve stress and anxiety. Calming music decreases blood pressure, stabilizes the heart rate, and eases stress. Research has shown that music can reduce stress for patients undergoing surgeries and colonoscopies, for children undergoing medical procedures, and for patients with coronary heart disease.
There is also preliminary evidence suggesting that listening to music can boost immune system function by decreasing stress hormones and increasing growth hormones. These changes should prepare the body to recover from and resist illnesses better, but the research is still in its early stages and requires further investigation.
Finally, there are a range of studies linking music to happiness and pleasure in various ways. Despite differences in individual studies, the scientific consensus on the topic is that music does stimulate the same areas of the brain that trigger pleasure in other activities. Multiple studies have found that listening to pleasurable music stimulates the mesocorticolimbic system in the brain, which is the same "pleasure center" that is triggered by humor, tasty food, and even cocaine. In this way, you could say that music is like a drug. If music makes you happy, then it might be possible that it is good for your health.

The Health Benefits of Music

Whether it's a pick-me-up song that brightens your mood or a life-saving violin practice like that of David Binanay, we've all felt the healing power of music.

From a research standpoint, the health benefits of music are still being studied.

However, I've always maintained a balance between being a scientist and a practitioner, and from a practical standpoint, there are very few reasons to avoid music as a means to improve your health and happiness.

Music therapy is noninvasive, affordable, and convenient. Music is one of the lifestyle choices that can help relieve stress and anxiety, reduce pain, and provide protection against disease.

Stefan Koelsch, a senior research fellow in neurocognition at the University of Sussex in Brighton, sums up the healing effects of music by saying, "I can't claim that music is a panacea for eliminating diseases.

But... So many medications have unpleasant side effects, both physical and psychological. Music has no side effects, or at least no harmful ones."