Stress and Music: Music Stimulates Multiple Areas of the Brain

Music therapy involves the clinical use of music interventions in order to alleviate pain, improve cognitive functioning, reduce social anxiety, and encourage overall physical and mental well-being (American Music Therapy Association). Techniques often involve individuals actively participating in music therapy through singing, comp¬¬osing, or listening to music. Evidence based studies have demonstrated that music therapy can elicit both a physiological and psychological response, resulting in cognitive and behavioral benefits that make it an ideal therapeutic tool in handling stress in normal daily activities as well as in the health care setting.

Music stimulates multiple areas of the brain by provoking auditory, emotional, autonomic, and cognitive processing. Once the sound waves from the music are heard, signaling travels from the auditory system to the areas of the brain responsible for processing and dissecting the sound information. These areas are the primary auditory cortex, heschl’s gyrus, the frontal operculum, the superior temporal sulcus, and cortical language areas. Following sound processing, emotional processing of the sound heard takes place in the amygdala, cingulate gyrus, and medical orbitofrontal cortex of the brain. Feedback from the processed music can lead to physiological responses and changes in the autonomic nervous system as a result of the type of music heard (Nizamie and Tikka). For example, harsh, fast paced music tends to increase sympathetic nervous system activity (increased heart rate, faster breathing), whereas gentle, soothing music stimulates the body to relax, activating the parasympathetic nervous system (slower heart rate, lower blood pressure and slower breathing) (...

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