I've been researching the effects music has on us, and I've stumbled upon some very interesting facts. For instance, it seems as though music is tied quite strongly to our reward system. When we listen to music, dopamine (the feel-good chemical) is released and it makes us feel good, so we naturally want to continue. Therefore, it has been concluded that people who are more driven by rewards, and less by thrill and adventure, are likely to more frequently get "chills" when listening to music they enjoy.
Music also reaches out to strong memories we have. We all have songs that immediately take us back to another time; a vivid memory locked away in our minds. For instance, what do you think of when you hear the Theme from Gilligan's Island, Mission: Impossible, We Will Rock You, The Macarena, or It's a Small World? It's usually songs like these that so easily become stuck in our heads, like an itch that we can't stop scratching.
Music has been helping us out for longer than we may think. According to my good friend, Wikipedia:
+Apollo is the ancient Greek god of music and of medicine.
+Aesculapius was said to cure diseases of the mind by using song and music, and music therapy was used in Egyptian temples.
+Plato said that music affected the emotions and could influence the character of an individual.
+Aristotle taught that music affects the soul and described music as a force that purified the emotions.
+Aulus Cornelius Celsus advocated the sound of cymbals and running water for the treatment of mental disorders.
+Music therapy was practiced in biblical times, when David played the harp to rid King Saul of a bad spirit.
+As early as 400 B.C., Hippocrates played music for his mental patients.
+In the thirteenth century, Arab hospitals contained music-rooms for the benefit of the patients.
+In the United States, Native American medicine men often employed chants and dances as a method of healing patients.
+The Turco-Persian psychologist and music theorist al-Farabi (872–950), known as Alpharabius in Europe, dealt with music therapy in his treatise Meanings of the Intellect, in which he discussed the therapeutic effects of music on the soul.
+Robert Burton wrote in the 17th century in his classic work, The Anatomy of Melancholy, that music and dance were critical in treating mental illness, especially melancholia.
+Music therapy as we know it began in the aftermath of World Wars I and II, when, particularly in the United Kingdom, musicians would travel to hospitals and play music for soldiers suffering from war-related emotional and physical trauma.
How cool is it that God would understand us so completely, and love us so much that He would give us such a beautiful form of art that actually heals us, inside and out? :) The more I learn about the world and myself, the more I am amazed by the Designer. Too cool!!
