Music can have a powerful effect on mind and body far beyond its
ability to promote relaxation and stress relief. Hospitals use
music therapy to ease pain, boost patients' mood and counteract
depression, help them sleep and reduce muscle tension so that
they can relax. In nursing homes, music therapy is used to
stimulate the elderly residents, improve the moods of
psychiatric patients and help them gain more control over their
lives. Some research suggests that music therapy can slow the
progression of Parkinson's disease and that some types of music
can influence the production of dopamine and serotonin, the
neurochemicals that are imbalanced in Parkinson's. According to
the American Music Therapy Association, music therapy can help
lower blood pressure, improve cardiac output, improve
respiration, reduce heart rate and relax muscle tension. And a
recent review of studies on the subject found that music can
reduce pain and anxiety in cancer patients and improve their
quality of life and mood. Our bodies reac