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The healing properties of music to human’s health
From Mr. Athanasio Dritsas, cardiologist at Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, composerand researcher.
About 200 years ago, W.A. Mozart didn’t realize how prophetic it would be for the future of music therapy when at his opera the Magic Flute was putting music to the words of Tamino who would use the power of the lumen to release his beloved: “Wie stark ist nicht dein Zauberton weil, holde flote, durch dein spielen selbst wilde tierre freude fulhen“ which in simple translation from German means : How big is your magic force my flute! Even wild beasts arrive around with joy … The composer of the magic Lumen if he lived today would not have believed in his eyes, if he found the music applications in medical science at the dawn of the 21st century.
The therapeutic effects of music has its historical roots in ancient Greek tradition and the tradition of other great peoples of the East. First the Pythagoreans considered the relationship of musical sounds and numbers and found that the numbers for the harmony of a arranged material world will play the same role in the art of music. In Pythagoras due the discovery of mathematical principles that govern the basic musical intervals and their origins through the Division of monochordoy in simple reasons (1:2, while an eighth or tuning forks, 2:3 and Thursday or diapente 3:4 Wednesday or Diatessaron). It is interesting that the same mathematical laws governing musical intervals for swmatometrikes and proportions of the human body and other physical structures such as the cochlea, the construction of the leaves, the wings of butterflies and several other natural structures. There are testimonies that the Pythagorean school was used by musicians sounds for treating patients based on the fact that the harmony of music will restore impaired psychophysical balance of the patient. According to an excerpt of Theon Smyrnaiou Pythagorean, “… Agreement has hugest power, such as truth, while in life and bliss, the naturally harmony. “.
The harmony laws of functioning of the universe has deep roots in the ancient spirit, so that the Greeks for astronomy fantasthikan especially a muse (Oyranian) whose laws did not differ from those for the production of musical sounds, because the movements of the stars were regulated by the sounds of Apollo’s lyre. The property of music to restore the lost harmony is emphasized also by Plato in his Timaeus of Locri. Testimonials on the therapeutic value of music there are of course in Homeric epics e.g. in the Odyssey where the blood stops running from wounds of Odysseus due to the song of Aytolykoy. Yet, in the tradition of Winnebago Indians-Lakota, shamans who were taking power from spirits of bears had the power to heal wounds with their song. In the old testament says that the madness of King Saul was treated in a day thanks to the power of the harp of David.
Nowadays, for the majority of listeners, the goal of the music is more fun term from the ancient verb diaskedannymi which means to divert the concentration. He amused trying not concentrated, but to move away from IE. to forget. The importance of fun is totally different from the importance of entertainment i.e.. education of the soul, a condition that is closest to the ancient significance and value of music. The expression ‘ this music touched my heart ‘ is widespread, by contrast has never aired a phrase type ‘ this music touched my mind ‘ or ‘ this music touched my brain ‘. In fact the conflict between brain and heart concerning the perception of things, the sense we could say more accurately, is too old. Responsible for the spread of kardiokentrikis theory IE. the view that defines the heart as the seat of consciousness, of passions and works of art are mainly Aristotle. Aristotle’s views go hand in hand as shown with the views of the ancient Jews and of Homer. Contrary to Plato and the medical school of Ippokratikwn shape egkefalokentriki Crystal view admits that the seat of sensation and cognition of beings lies in the brain [1]. With the subsequent development of neuroscience proved objectively. by observation and experiment, that the seat of perception is in the brain. But while the kardiokentriki-Aristotelian view once popularized by the medieval scholastic philosophy managed to survive virtually until the 18th century, the reverberations of the stagnated in memory of ordinary people until our days. A proof of this pampalaioy dualism concerning the center of intellect and sense is in his work, W. Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice (merchant of Venice) in the second scene of the third Act: Tell me where is my fancy bread, or heart or in the head in (translated. The desire where grows in the heart or mind?)
The findings very significant research done over the past decade in brain-object music (music and brain) restore the sanctity and the therapeutic value of music after you demonstrate objectively the impact of music on the functioning of the human body. Properly selected by relaxing music-i.e. of reducing stress that achieves the music-can reduce the frequency of breathing, the heart beats and blood pressure in heart patients patients hospitalized in intensive care units [2,3]. Yet it has been shown that this reduction since heartbeats and blood pressure is associated with reducing levels of hormones such as adrenaline, cortisol and CORTICOTROPIN (ACTH) that circulate in the blood and the surge levels causes them stress [4]. The music achieves painlessly and safely targets cardiologists achieves with the help of pharmaceutical substances.
It seems that the effect of music-mainly through pace-practiced through influence on visceral functions associated with the ontologika primitive piece of the human brain. Neuroanatomical Snell & comments Stratton showed that kochliakoi cores (cochlear nuclei), milestone in the path of the auditory nerve level bridge-brainstem (brain stem), adjacent to significant nuclei that operate autonomously and are tuning centers breathing and circulation (dorsal motor vagal nucleus, nucleus, nucleus ambiguous) [5]. Maybe a resonance phenomenon IE. parallel neural stimulation adjacent neurons could explain the increase in the frequency of breathing and heartbeat when we hear a fast musical tempo and vice versa in the case of a slow tempo. This primary effect of music, mainly through the pace, going without the control of consciousness and respect all people, regardless of race and origin. At a second level understanding of succession of tones and music architecture requires the involvement of highly qualified senior brain centres in level of the cerebral cortex (cortex), where this function is conscious (IE. at this point I used the education everyone has acquired). Based on the above scientific explanation is true and the single term “feel the rhythm-feel the beat” that we often use a and all people can feel the pace. On the other hand is not used and appeared to have no single force the term feel the melody because of different culture and education, different IE. conscious records at the level of the cerebral cortex, perception of marked-harmonic line differs from person to person.
Significant research done recently in Piedmont Hospital, Atlanta, USA has shown thatnewborns–especially early–exposed to music listening especially processed soundsendometrial (womb sounds) and lullabies with the voice of the mother, earn muchfaster weight and leaving the neonatal intensive care unit faster than infants who have not been exposed to music [6]. Still, u.s. researchers showed that hearing a PianoSonata of W.A. Mozart (k. 448) can improve the ability to solve complex mathematical problems of college students [7]. The same Sonata was also used as medicine to combat crises in epileptic patients [8].
Apocalyptic research done at McGill University in Canada (Cognitive Neuroscience Department headed by Dr. Zattore) has shown that language and musical stimuli differently neuronal action in the human brain, so after serious strokes many patients to maintain their ability to perceive sounds and musicians to sing, and have lost the ability to speak [9]. Refers, in the history of medicine, the case of the Russian composer Shebalin (1901-1963) who despite the heavy stroke that deprived him of his speech, continued to analyze the works of his students and to compose music. Also, the French composer and organist Jean Langlais (1907-1991) following a serious stroke that caused him loss of speech, writing ability and recognition of words, could still be read notes, composing and improvising music.
Many different researchers have demonstrated that exposure to music listening and systematic music instruction that begins before the age of 7 years can cause to human brain development more different neural pathways than those associated purely with reason and language. This theoretically could be protective if this person in the future would suffer a stroke [10,11]. In this case the brain will manage possible to secure communication through “musical neural pathways” since destroyed some roads associated with reason and language. All of these modern research studies identified in the relationship between brain-music used for the anatomical and functional imaging on brain MRI (magnetic resonance imaging-MRI) and the most modern tomography pozitronioy (positron tomography-PET SCAN) [12].
Most applications finds music therapy as a completed form treatment either in the form of passive music therapy-hearing (receptive music therapy music & medicine) or in the form of active music therapy or music-psychotherapy (active music therapy) which requires the presence of a specially trained music therapists that combines advanced knowledge of music with special training in psychology. A classic sign of active music therapy is for example the autistic child and there is used as a method of music therapy improvisation. Music therapy is indicated generally relieve any kind of pain but also as a means of dealing with psychoswmatikoy agcholysis, stress and strengthen our anosobiologikoy system. The first music therapy movement begins in u.s. hospitals after the end of World War II, where it seemed that music help in faster recovery veteran soldiers. Today the music therapy is applied in almost every institution, principal in America and in Europe, which cares for people with disabilities such as hospitals, schools, rehabilitation centres and rehabilitation patients, health centers and palliative treatment.
Recently, the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, studied prospectively the effect of a specially selected music to a large group of heart patients during their hospital stay even at the level of the intensive care unit. All patients were exposed to 30 min intervals listening music blend of various ichochrwmatwn and before and after the hearing gave replies to psychometriko questionnaires that contained subjective scoring in Visual ratio scales related to the perception of stress. The vast majority of patients agreed that music in hospitalized spaces that include the coronary intensive care unit significantly reduces the feeling of stress. The exposure of patients to music before and during diagnostic tests, such as the stress test is objective with lower heart rate of initiation of probation and also faster decline of cardiac and arterial pressure during resuscitation [13,14].
Music well to protect our physical health but also the proper functioning of our brain, as with physical exercise and healthy eating we reduce the likelihood of pathoyme cardiovascular episodes. This is an important message at a time when universities restrict the money they have more generally in the humanities and the arts. Conversely an increase in wastage for the fun and the show biz IE. a world that promotes forgetfulness and escaping from reality. The education of art but also of traditional music comes in second place to the education in technological disciplines (see Economics and Informatics). The ancient ideal that required the participation of music in the mainstream of education vindicated in the 21st century on the basis of the findings of the science of cognitive Neuropsychology Department (cognitive science), see. the QUADRIVIUM of Roman culture consisting of arithmetic, geometry, Astronomy and Music. Plato on the basis of the findings of modern research mentioned above proved a prophet after the Timaio-perhaps more scientific work-sets with precise and subtle way the essence and meaning of music: music harmony has been given us by the gods rather than aiming the reckless pleasure but aiming to impose order in the turbulent movements of our soul and make it resemble the sulfur standard.