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Selah Rodriguez

Ms. McDermott

English I Honors

5 April 2018

How does music affect healing processes of those with diseases?

Many diseases do not have a precise cure that doctors, surgeons, and researchers are

completely sure achieve the necessary outcome without consisting of fatal flaws. Those who

have diseases without a cure or even those that are recovering from a medical battle have

resulted in using treatment such as physical therapy. More advanced and developed treatments

are vital in the medical field in order to sustain people with certain diseases such as Parkinson's

or depression. In the article “Music as Medicine,” Joanne Loewy, the lead director of a study that

tested music’s role in therapy, states that "Music very much has a way of enhancing quality of

life and can, in addition, promote recovery,” (Novotney 3). How does music affect healing

processes of those with diseases?

Healing treatments for diseases are still being experimented with and advanced today to

eventually cause the delivery of cures. An experiment was performed in Canada and the article

“Music as Medicine” by Amy Novotney claims that “in the trial with 42 children ages 3 to 11,

University of Alberta researchers found that patients who listened to relaxing music while

getting an IV inserted reported significantly less pain, and some demonstrated significantly less

distress, compared with patients who did not listen to music,” (Novotney 8). Not only does music

assist with decreasing levels of pain and distress, but an article from ABC News titled “How

Music Therapy can Lift Body and Soul for Patients,” written by Julie Barzilay also states that

music “facilitates regular breathing can enhance blood oxygenation and raise energy levels,
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while working with others to produce music can release endorphins that improve mood,”

(Barzilay 26). Depression is a mental obstacle and disease and an article from NCBI expresses

that the act of listening to music reduces depressive symptoms, improves mood and contributes

to the physical, functional recovery (Raglio 16). Music has countless positive impacts through

the use of treatment on people who have illnesses.

The experiment conducted at the University of Alberta established results that children

who had listened to music during the IV insertion had reportedly less pain and showed signs of

less anxiety. Although the IV insertion is not a disease, the greater number of patients with

diseases require an IV insertion at any given time. Not only does this affect people with

conditions or diseases, but it also impacts those who are not diagnosed. Almost all people get

something such as a blood draw. The second article proves that music can aid in releasing

endorphins- a hormone produced by the nervous system and raises energy levels. Oftentimes,

patients with diseases run low on energy because their body is using it to fight. If music can

release endorphins, raise energy levels, and help blood oxygenation, it will positively influence

patients. A fourth article from CBS News specifies that “Learning to play an instrument, for

example, sharpens how the brain processes sound and can improve children's reading and other

school skills,” (Sampson 7). This will impact my personal journey because I am learning how to

play the ukulele and it has the potential to improve my learning abilities- or even, as the NCBI

article stated, can release endorphins and raise my energy levels.

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Works Cited

Barzilay, Julie. “How Music Therapy Can Lift Body and Soul for Patients.” ABC News,

ABC News Network, 5 July 2016, abcnews.go.com/Health/music-therapy-lift-body-soul-

patients/story?id=40279975.

Novotney, Amy. “Music as Medicine.” Monitor on Psychology, American Psychological

Association, Nov. 2013, www.apa.org/monitor/2013/11/music.aspx.

Raglio, Alfredo, et al. “Effects of Music and Music Therapy on Mood in Neurological

Patients.” World Journal of Psychiatry, Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 22 Mar. 2015,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4369551/.