Grace Harp Essay

Submitted By Lolita-Grace
Words: 492
Pages: 2

Grace Harp
The effects of music on the brain
3/18/2014

Listening to a song can have a real effect on various parts of the brain, with studies showing that areas responsible for aspects, such as memory and vision, can 'light up' in response to music. Everyone reacts to music in different ways. One individual may love trap music, while another is happiest listening to classical.
Music can help you concentrate, A new 'digital tonic' called Ubrain, which can be downloaded onto smartphones, claims to be able to help people focus, energize, wake up as well as relax. The process uses two different beats in each ear to create a third 'perceived' beat, which can stimulate certain activity in the brain. If we're feeling anxious or stressed, we can encourage our cerebral cortex to produce slow alpha-frequency brain waves, while on the other end of the scale, if we help our cortex to produce faster beta waves, we will be better equipped to concentrate and focus our attention on a fairly lengthy task.
Music can be an effective and positive treatment for people dealing with mental health conditions. Someone who is very withdrawn may find that music can act as an outlet for expressing things that they're unable to put into words. It can also act as a stimulus to awaken buried memories or evoke emotional responses that may take weeks to achieve with talking therapies.
Many people find familiar music comforting and calming. In fact, music is so effective in reducing anxiety, it is often used in dental, preoperative, and radiation therapy settings to help patients cope with their worries about procedures. Music helps decrease anxiety in the elderly, new mothers, and children too. Any kind of relaxing, calming music can contribute to calmer moods. Calming music can be combined with cognitive therapy to lower anxiety even more effectively than conventional therapy alone.
Since ancient times, it has been known that certain kinds of music can help soothe away stress. Calming background music can significantly decrease irritability and promote calm in elderly nursing