Mom, I'm not wasting my time! I'm regenerating my brain

Most of us can relate to music in some ways. For most of us music is very important in life. But, have you ever thought what music does to your brain? Did it ever cross your mind that maybe you are repairing your brain while enjoying this popular activity

While there's some discrepancies about what is music and what to call good music, scientists have discovered that the effects of music on our brains are similar to those of enjoying food, sex and even consuming some drugs.

According to a study conducted in 2001: “This finding links music with biologically relevant, survival-related stimuli via their common recruitment of brain circuitry involved in pleasure and reward.”  Some statements have been made such as “music can repair brain damage”, “music can kick an addiction”, “music can improve your immune system”, etc. , of course although some of these statements might be truth, further research is needed, and I have to say that there’s a little bit of scientific basis to make some of this statements, but again the way in which media report the breakthroughs is very different to the actual findings of research teams. However, music can also be banned from the brain very specifically as shown in a study conducted on one specific case in 1996.

What we do know for certain is that some of truth we find in the statement that music can repair brain damage.  As shown in a study in 2008, Music facilitates the neurogenesis, regeneration and repair of neurons. This study proposes that music can repair the brain by adjusting the production of steroid which would lead to brain and that music may affect  the receptor genes related to these substances, and related proteins. This research team states that music could even be used to prevent Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in a less invasive way than current accepted treatments.

It would be very interesting to learn more about this topic, but one thing is clear to me, Music is good for our brains, even for the emotionally impaired.

Clearly there’s a lot of research in this field and we would certainly like to know more, but I wonder if this effect comes from all music styles. Have you ever read something about this specific matter? What is your opinion?

I leave you with the most used music for this kind of research and I’ll go listen to some music myself, I think my brain could use some repair:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8v12M2mRVM&feature=fvwrel

Here you can find some entertaining statements about music, some of them have scientific basis, some of them are not even near to be proven yet:

http://www.cracked.com/article_18405_7-insane-ways-music-affects-body-according-to-science.html