David Farmer ENGL 1102 Ingram

Rock Music: Is it Harmful to Your Health? There are a wide variety of musical styles in the world, all of them having widely differing effects on humans. Some types of music are slow and relaxing, some are fast and adrenaline-pumping, and other types of music are somewhere in between. After researching the effects of various musical genres on human health and behavior, I have discovered evidence implying that classical music has nothing but positive effects on the ability to think clearly and process information while rock music has the complete opposite effect. Rock music is considered to be loud and distracting to regular thought processes while having a harmful effect on relaxation. If rock music is so bad for human health, why do a large number of people listen to it and enjoy it on a regular basis? While rock music may not have the same cognitive and spatial reasoning benefits as classical music, it has a special place in the life of a healthy person. The role of music in human life is so great that it can be used to predict the rise and fall of civilizations. According to Oswald Spenglers history text Decline of the West, musical traditions have been shown to correlate with a nations stability. Before a civilizations political and technological zenith, musical traditions were at their greatest level of classical form and beauty. Before a civilizations demise, there was a general decline in musical quality. Spengler predicted based on his research that Western civilization was doomed to decline due to the popularity of certain compositional styles, despite great advances in science and technology. Most of the current research on music therapy proves the positive physical and psychological effects of music. The effects are not difficult to find or measure, but the results have often been misinterpreted and exaggerated by the media. The Mozart Effect is an example of one of these exaggerations. Research was done determining that listening to 10 minutes of Mozarts Sonata for Two

Pianos in D Minor briefly increased scores on the paper-folding task, a component of the Stanford-Bidet intelligence test. These effects only lasted about 10 minutes with performance on non-spatial tasks unaffected. Compositions from other classical composers showed similar benefits. Since listening to a few minutes of Mozart may temporarily make one smarter, it is easy to wonder what the long term effects of classical music are. By extension to that, it is easy to wonder if other types of music have longterm positive and negative effects. The ways the brain is affected by music have always fascinated the medical community. Most historic research has been linked to the cortex, the part of the brain associated with memory, consciousness, and abstract thought. These studies were done with neurosurgical patients, who lie awake with their cortex exposed and listen to certain sounds and music. With their neural activity being recorded, they told researchers how the musical selections made them feel. In neuroscientist Damir Janigros study, more than a dozen neurosurgical patients listened to three different types of musical selections: rhythmic music with no discernible melody, melodic music with undefined rhythm, and something in between. In the end, patients reported that the purely melodic music was the most soothing. It decreased the activity of individual neurons in the deep brain, and the physical responses of patients ranged from closing their eyes to falling asleep. With the right music, patients can be more relaxed in the operating room and recover more quickly. Music can drastically affect your mood. Turning up the volume to an upbeat song can give you a natural burst of adrenaline. Fast music can change your brainwaves, allowing you to be more attentive, alert, and observant. High school and college bands energize the crowd by playing loud, clashing tunes on brass instruments. Slow music can slow down your breathing and heart rate while reducing anxiety and promoting peacefulness. Classical music can aid in digestion and reduce the levels of cortisol, a stress hormone in your body. Music therapy is often used by hospitals to calm patients, control pain,

alleviate depression, and relax muscles. Listening to just an hour a day of music can help with chronic pain control, reducing the need for pain medications. However, studies have been done on plants where they were exposed to either classical music or rock music. They responded favorably to classical music, but wilted and died when exposed to rock music. Music found beneficial to plants was also found beneficial to humans, suggesting a link between the two. Stringed instruments in the frequencies of 5000 to 8000 (cello, violin, and viola) were the most rapid in producing an alpha brainwave response, promoting relaxation and calmness. A study was done where researchers exposed mice to silence, Strauss waltzes, and voodoo drumming to determine their ability to complete a maze for food. The mice exposed to either silence or the waltzes completed the maze quickly, with the waltz mice doing slightly better. However, the mice exposed to voodoo drumming continued to accomplish less, eventually becoming so confused that they could not continue with the maze. They became aggressive, overly stimulated, and eventually cannibalistic. This research suggests that certain types of music may in fact have very negative effects on humans. If rock music has those same kinds of negative effects, why would anyone listen to it? There have to be benefits to listening to rock music, otherwise it would have no reason to exist.

Works Cited Carr, Coeli. Using Music to Ease Patient Stress During Surgery. Time Health and Family. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1929994,00.html Harmat, L., Takcs, J. and Bdizs, R. (2008), Music improves sleep quality in students. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 62: 327335. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2008.04602.x Harrell, Lonnette. Music and Your Health- Benefits and Harmful Effects. Yahoo! Voices. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. http://voices.yahoo.com/music-health-benefits-harmful-effects- 2189003.html?cat=5 Wicke, Roger. Herbalist Review, Issue 2002 #1: Effects of music and sound on human health. Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. http://www.rmhiherbal.org/review/20021.html