The power of music

With brains wired for song, we derive pleasure, feel less pain and transcend our body's limits

October 29, 2007|Judy Foreman

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But not all studies have been so clear-cut. One 2007 review by the Cochrane Collaboration, a nonprofit, international organization that evaluates medical research, involved pooling data from 51 pain studies; it showed that listening to music can reduce the intensity of pain and the need for narcotic drugs, but cautioned that, overall, the benefit was small.

Music therapy may also improve mental state and functioning in people with schizophrenia, according to a 2007 Cochrane review. Premature infants who listen to lullabies learn to suck better and gain more weight than those who don't get music therapy. And Deforia Lane, director of music therapy at the University Hospitals Ireland Cancer Center in Cleveland, has found an improvement in immune response among hospitalized children who played, sang, and created music compared to children who did not get music therapy.

Indeed, the list of potential benefits from music therapy seems almost endless (check out the website of the American Music Therapy Association, musictherapy.org).

For some people, like Dan Ellsey, they can be nothing short of liberating.

As the sound of Ellsey's music faded away the other day, I asked him what message he would like to tell people through his music. Painstakingly, he tapped out his answer, aiming a laser device on his forehead to highlight pictures and letters on his computer.

"I am smart," he wrote, arching his back, joy beaming from his eyes. "I have a good personality."

Anything else? Eyes alight, he tapped: "I am a musician."

Correction: Because of a reporting error, the Health Sense column about the power of music in Monday's Health/Science section misrepresented research comparing the use of flashing lights and music to help people walk better. The research was done on healthy volunteers, not stroke patients.