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August 13, 2024 | Blogs and News
Why is Music Therapy so important for our brain?
According to Dr. Talin Babikian, music activates the limbic system, our reward center, and the frontal cortex of our brain. The limbic system is responsible for an individual’s ability to learn, retain memories, form emotional responses, and find empathy — which is especially important during the difficult journey many children with a chronic condition or who are hospitalized face every day.
Brain scans done during Music Therapy sessions reveal that music releases chemicals in the brain that play a significant role in altering our moods and feelings. These include dopamine and oxytocin, known to increase levels of motivation and movement for a child, and responsible for creating trust between individuals.
This is why a Music Therapist working with one of our CMF Kids can form a profound connection during their sessions. Additionally, hormones are released that affect and strengthen a sick child’s immune system and lower the sensitivity to pain.
Outside of a clinical setting, music has been developmentally crucial, helping with the growth of motor, hearing, memory, verbal, and literacy skills as well as math. The emphasis on introducing children to music at a young age has additional advantages, as playing and listening to music creates increased neural connections in the brain.
A study conducted by Harvard Medical School describes the process as a sort of “warm up” for the brain as it allows certain brain cells to process information much more efficiently. In this study, music was played for one group of patients undergoing surgery while the other group remained in silence during the procedure.
The results showed that the group with no music remained highly hypertensive during the surgery while the group exposed to music had significant reductions where the mean diastolic dropped down to 24 mm Hg for the lowest person. A mean blood pressure considered optimal during surgery is under 100 mm HG diastolic, which is why the results presented in the study are astounding and prove Music Therapy’s success in improving our mental and physical states of being.
Dr. Babikian’s says, “Music is the glue for human connection and has been a way of communication before words were ever spoken. Language may individualize, but music harmonizes, it binds us all with its healing powers and universal voice.
This is part two of our blog series featuring Dr. Talin Babikian’s commentary on music and our brains. Information in this blog is revised from an earlier version based on content from a co-sponsored webinar hosted by Children’s Music Fund and Creative Healing for Youth in Pain (chyp) founded by Lonnie Zeltzer, MD focusing on Music Therapy as a complement to medical treatments and how it can provide children with coping mechanisms for their chronic pain and illness.
chyp is a nonprofit dedicated to helping kids and their parents deal with chronic pain. There are many common healthcare barriers that individuals face on a daily basis, and chyp works to eliminate those by offering online resources that inspire strength, health and hope in the lives of today’s youth.
Children’s Music Fund focuses on overcoming pain, fear and anxiety that children experience during hospitalization or medical treatments for chronic conditions and life-altering illnesses through Music Therapy.
Read the first blog in the series that discusses Creative Healing: Music As Therapy
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