Topic for March :
“Tell about music that moves you. A song you love and why – Does it motivate or inspire you? Transport or soothe you?”
March is National Music in our Schools Month, celebrating how music motivates and inspires. In honor of this, our Patient Voice topic for March is music – How can it motivate, inspire, transport or soothe you? Is there a particular song that you go to on your most difficult days to help lift your spirits?
It has long been believed that music enhances creative thinking and problem solving while drawing people together to help them express themselves emotionally. Playing a musical instrument requires right brain usage which exercises one’s creativity and intellect (writing, painting, dance and theatre create a similar effect.) Music can help us learn – when a topic is set to music, we retain more. In learning an instrument, you employ time management skills and organize the wiring in your brain to start looking at learning in a new light. Music can influence the way we dress, think, speak, and live our lives – so choose music that uplifts and inspires.
According to a recent article in the Huffington Post, there is now some science to back this up. Neuroscientists have discovered that listening to music heightens positive emotion through the reward centers of our brain, stimulating hits of dopamine that can make us feel good or even elated. Listening to music also lights up other areas of the brain — in fact, almost no brain center is left untouched — suggesting more widespread effects and potential uses for music.
They identify several impacts of music on our health, including music’s ability to:
– reduce stress and anxiety
– decrease pain
– improve immune functioning
– enhance memory
While music is in no way a treatment or a cure for ME/CFS or FM, it can be a tool used by those impacted to help them cope until such treatments and cures are found.
How has music impacted your journey? Share your story with us through the Patient Voice.
Send your submission to [email protected]
Details on making a submission HERE
Lucinda Bateman, MD, is a renowned clinician, researcher, and educator. Her Johns Hopkins University Medical School training instilled an approach to care that she has employed throughout her career - the patient comes first and the unknown or unexplained does not equate to a lack of proper and compassionate care. Since starting her own practice in 2000, she has served on six boards or committees, been the principal investigator for 45 studies, authored/coauthored 40 journal articles, served as adjunct instructor and adjunct assistant professor in the University of Utah Departments of Preventative Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Anesthesiology, and lectured around the world.