Latest medical research shows music can be more beneficial than medication.

We’ve long been told of the benefits of listening to music whilst pregnant, of how music enhances a child’s learning, how music can help in our studies and work, but when it comes to addressing our health, a whole range of latest studies are telling us that the positive effects of music could outweigh those of medication.

In a recent article published by Berkley University, Jill Suttie summarises the ways that recent research has looked into ways that music may improve our health and the cases in which music’s positive impact on our wellbeing may be more powerful than a trip to the doctor or the psychologist.

The article addresses the traditional health concerns of stress and anxiety, pain, immune system function, exercise and memory.

1. Music reduces stress
When addressing issues of stress and anxiety, traditionally we know that music can prevent an increase in the heart rate – a marker of stress. The first study claims that when looking at the impact of music on patients requiring surgery, the stress-reducing effects were more powerful than an...