Music Enhances Healing and Community Spirit

Concert goers.

Source: Eva Rinaldi / Flickr

Music and its healing powers can be traced to the ancient Greeks, who visited the healing temples of Asclepios to seek inner peace and relief from suffering. According to Pavli (2024), in the ancient Greek temples, "Poetic and musical performances (e.g., hymns and paeans) were well attested in the sanctuaries of Asclepios."

Patients spent the night in sacred buildings where priests performed purification rituals leading to "the sleep that ideally led to the miraculous healing. Patients waited for the God to enter their dreams, the essential element for healing."

Music plays a role in modern medicine

In modern-day medicine, researchers have focused on how music affects one's brain and mood in at least three ways.

1. Music releases the key pleasure-related neurotransmitter dopamine.
2. Listening to music can boost the immune system, reduce stress, improve health outcomes, and, with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, facilitate communication and caregiver relationships,
3. Community music gatherings, outdoor concerts, and singalongs increase endorphins and positive emotions.

University Affairs, reporting on How Music Affects the Brain, noted that Professor Daniel Levitin, neuroscientist, cognitive psychologist, and musician, co-authored a study that concluded:

"Summarizing the findings of more than 400 scientific studies, the review noted that there’s clinical evidence that playing and listening to music can boost our immune systems and reduce stress—in fact, listening to music was found to be more effective than prescription drugs in reducing a patient’s pre-surgery anxiety."

Researchers are exploring how music therapy can improve health outcomes among a variety of patient populations, including premature infants and people with depression.

In 2013, Science reported on How Music Affects the Brain, highlighting Robert Zatorre of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital's research. It noted, "study participants’ brains released the key pleasure-related neurotransmitter dopamine several anticipatory seconds before the peak emotional crescendo of music they liked, a milestone in the cognitive neuroscience of music."

In 2023, Music Intervention in Human Life, Work, and Disease: A Survey reported: "Particularly in music therapy, music provides innovative ideas for medical treatment. For example, music can have an unexpected effect on difficult-to-treat diseases, providing scientists with new ideas for treating these diseases."

Community music concerts benefit our brains and mood

There are many studies regarding music and stress relief. In this tumultuous pre-election season, music may be a panacea. In particular, outdoor concerts may effectively reduce anxiety, lift one's spirits, and foster a sense of community.

How exactly do concerts benefit our brains? In an interview with the university's magazine, Lisa Badanes, Ph.D., chair of the department of psychological sciences at Metropolitan State University of Denver, discussed the psychological benefits of outdoor concerts.

According to Badanes:

"Concerts aren’t just fun and entertaining but can actually activate neural pathways associated with rewards and pleasure. People attending concerts show increased levels of endorphins, which are hormones that can intensify positive emotions. The dancing, clapping, and poses people do at concerts can result in the neural transmission of dopamine, making us feel good. And singing out loud with others can release oxytocin, leading to increased satisfaction. . . .Taken together, this can lead to increased feelings of belongingness."

Copyright 2024 Rita Watson, MPH