Why Music??? part 10 Music and Immune Response

Thanks for visiting musicfromthestart.com topics and conversations. Here I want to address music therapy issues and concepts as they relate to education, health and wellness.

This is part ten of my blog posts where I describe music therapy interactions I've had that are indicative of why music is so healing, meaningful, enriching and sometimes life changing!

This post describes a music therapy session with a hospice patient, an elderly woman who spent 50+ yrs as a cloistered nun. For all those years she had virtually no exposure to the outside world including popular music, culture, entertainment, etc.

For a year or more she has enjoyed and benefited from our music therapy sessions consisting of live music (guitar and voice) provided by the writer. She consistently is very attentive, even towards music she has never heard, often laughing joyfully after each song. Today she asked for “Italian songs,” as is her heritage, and enjoyed novelty songs, cheerfully commenting after each song. This session made me think about the health benefits that occur when engaging enthusiastically in live music as described above. Namely boosting ones immune system.

On my site, musicfromthestart.com, I talk about immune system research and music. This is available (MT Research Sheet) in the resource center located at the bottom left of the home page. #7 of the research sheet is below...

7. BOOST OUR IMMUNE SYSTEM – AFTER A 30 MIN MUSIC EXPERIENCE ENZYMES IN OUR SALIVA, THAT AID IN DIGESTION (thus boosting our immune system), ARE PRODUCED, NAMELY IMMUNOGLOBULIN A (IgA); ALSO PRODUCED, INTERLEUKIN 1 WHICH IS A PROTEIN THAT ALSO AIDS IN FORTIFYING IMMUNE RESPONSE

Similar to the music research on stress, after individuals listened to personally chosen, preferred music, the above mentioned enzymes that boost immune response were produced and measured.  

Also, please take note of other research areas listed on this information sheet that are related to immune system support such as those describing stress management, pain management, supporting relaxation and better sleep, etc..

Know that research in this area is very well documented. For example simply search “music and immune response and you can chose from many examples, here is one: http://www.allstarhealth.com/blog/health-nutrition-science-news/music-boosts-immune-function-lowers-stress/ And in the related area of laughter and immune response, here is a research article: http://www.laughterremedy.com/article_pdfs/Boost%20Your%20Immune%20System.pdf

I thought to add the laughter article because my patient described above often is very jovial and enjoys laughing, along with her true enjoyment of music.

So, "Why live music??"... because live music can boost immune response, while supporting health and wellness. And remember, PREFERRED music has the most potential for benefiting our health.

Also, I want to let everyone know that my new site: musicfromthestart.com, still very new, is in the process of producing more offerings. Right now there are three offerings, i.e., two music albums available, David's Basics in Education and Lyrical Imagery and one educational lecture titled The Purposeful Use of Music From Pregnancy Through Toddlerhood (including Labor and Delivery). The second album, Lyrical Imagery, and the childbirth lecture are a free download for a limited time.

As a reminder the main thrust of the music therapy/childbirth lecture is to support moms (and dads) as they put together their own music listening playlists or CDs to support rhythmic breathing, act as a positive diversion from pain and stress, etc., to be used during labor and delivery.

Also, I'm looking forward to recording my second music album this spring or summer. This is music for child development, autism and special needs. As a reminder, one song, “High 5,” from David's Basics in Education (music album #1) is still a free download for a limited time.

In upcoming posts I will continue with other music therapy/health and wellness related blog posts.

My prescription this week??? Again, choose some favorite music to listen to (with no distractions), chill and feel the old immune system “percolate...”

 
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