Music is the medicine of the future.
Animals make sounds to communicate. However, the way we think of "music"—with melodies and rhythms—is something that seems to be unique to humans.  We have created complicated musical styles that express our culture and emotions in ways that other animals don’t.
Music has been a part of human history in all cultures around the world. Cave paintings showing people making music date back 60,000 years. The oldest musical instruments we’ve found are flutes made from vulture bones that are about 40,000 years old.
In the recent years, Neuroscience and its understanding of brain plasticity has brought music therapy into more scientists attention because there is a lot that music can show about the brain as its impact can be found in every region of it. There is not just one musical processing center in our brains. The different components of music—like pitch, loudness, and timbre— are processed at areas that team up to understand rhythm, melody, tempo, and songs. The left side of the brain handles pitch and chords, just like it does for language. Timbres are processed in special areas of the auditory cortex, while tempo and rhythm are thought to get the cerebellum and basal ganglia working together. Loudness is managed by a network of neurons that connects the brainstem and midbrain to the temporal lobes. To figure out where sounds are coming from, the brain looks at things like frequency and timing. Listening to music helps with attention and memory, activating reward systems that release a feel-good chemical called dopamine. When we anticipate what comes next in music—like tones and rhythms—our brain connects different areas, including the prefrontal cortex and parts of the limbic system.
Learning music can actually change the brain. Musicians have more gray matter and differences in the white matter of their brain. Practicing an instrument can even make the cerebellum bigger. Plus, learning to read music is similar to learning a language; it affects the left side of the brain.
Creating rules for using music as medicine can be tricky because everyone reacts to music differently. This can be affected by things like culture, personality, personal likes, familiarity with the music, and even health factors. Despite these challenges, we can't deny the power of music. As scientists keep researching, their discoveries suggest that music could play a very important role in healthcare.
At the moment, music can be used to treat chronic pain, anxiety and depression. Improve endothelial function in patients with hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease. As therapy for patients with Autism, Alzheimer and Parkinson disease.
Keeping our brain young and preserving our mental health with music, is as important as it is for our physical health to exercise the body.
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