Music and the power it has to transform someone´s life.
Music has the power to transform someone´s life. Across culture and through history, we find evidence that indicate the need of human beings to express themselves through music. It has been proven scientifically that the musical instinct has its own basis in biology.
According to Lea Wolf and Dr. Thomas Wolf, ´´music has been shown to stimulate the brain’s primary engines of human capacity. Musical engagement exercises attentional networks and executive function, evokes emotional response and stimulates the central nervous system, and appears to activate the human mirror-neuron system, supporting the coupling between perceptual events (visual or auditory) and motor actions (leg, arm/hand, or vocal/articulatory actions)´´. They also mention that those that engage in musical activities produce long-lasting changes, even after brain maturation is complete. For example, people that frequently play musical instruments are less likely to develop dementia compared to those who do not. Another example that shows the power of music, is a movie called ´´The music never Stopped´´. It is based on a true story of a son that is diagnosed with brain tumor and because of his illness becomes catatonic. He only comes out of this state, the moment he hears the music that used to listen to when he was a child.
In general, music offers health benefits throughout life. It has beneficial effects on people with conditions like cancer, schizophrenia, and traumatic brain injuries. In addition, music affects positively people that suffer from depression, stress, and chronic pain, and as a result, it has been integrated into health care. Furthermore, music enhances the speed of efficacy of staff performance in surgery, and ameliorates the anxiety of patients being weaned from mechanical ventilation.
Music affects emotions in such an extent that people act and react when listening to a specific type of music. For example, when people listen to loud music, they become intense, and when they listen to more calming tones, they become relaxed and tranquil. The human behavior is a complex matter. We hear music to calm our nerves or get more exited, when at the same time we listen to music that represents who we are and what we feel, at a certain period of time.
