Music lightens spirit, makes us feel good. Even when we feel like hell, study finds
A new study reinforces the healing power of music.
The scientifically rigorous study, published in the current issue of The Journal of Advanced Nursing, finds that listening to music just one hour a day can reduce pain levels by up to 21% and depression levels by up to 25% among long-term sufferers of chronic pain.
Those in the study had been suffering from back pain due to disc disease, arthritis or other disorders for an average of 6-1/2 years. Half were instructed to listen to music on a headset for an hour a day for a week. Of those, half were allowed to pick their favorite music and the other half were told to pick from a selection of music that researchers felt were relaxing in nature.
Which music group the participants were assigned to had no real effect on results. But those who listened to music reported substantial reductions in pain, depression and disability and increased feelings of power, compared to those in the no-music group.
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In my Spirit of Wellness work, I encourage you to intentionally create your environments — all of them — and to include in each one elements of nature, art, beauty, love, friendship, proud accomplishment, and music that you find immensely inspiring and comforting. Now we have more evidence supporting the wisdom of the music portion of that prescription.
– ken winston caine,
the Spirit of Wellness research doc™
and Alchemystic Holistic™
Also:
• BBC report on the study cited above: Effect of music on power, pain, depression and disability, by Sandra L. Siedliecki PhD, RN, CNS and Marion Good PhD, RN, FAAN.
• Earlier study finds 20 minutes of music a day cuts arthritis pain in half.
• Harp music reduces cancer pain, study finds.
• No Jukeboxes: The magical healing powers of music, an excerpt from my 1985 novel, Conversations with the Moon
