Music has been used to cure disease and improve general health for thousands of years across many cultures from ancient China and Egypt to the American Indians. Greek mathematician, doctor and musician, Pythagoras, professed and practiced the healing powers of music and sound. He believed there was an inseparable, undeniable correlation between musical harmony and biological harmony.

However, it wasn’t until the late 20th century that any scientific evidence emerged supporting the physiological effects of music and sound on the human body. Throughout the 1980s, ‘90s and into the beginning of the 21st century, there were hundreds of research studies conducted on the therapeutic power of music and sound. Music was shown to drastically reduce stress levels in patients preparing for surgery and in post-operative recovery, reducing hospital stays by up to 40%. Listening to 15 minutes of certain types of music was proven to be the equivalent of 10 mg of valium.

Music was also shown to have a direct effect on brain wave frequency patterns causing neuro-transmitters to trigger a cascade of hormonal changes from increased endorphin and dopamine production to improved learning capacity and memory.

As Dr. Mitchell Gaynor states in his seminal book - The Healing Power of Sound - “Based on my reviews of this burgeoning research, I have come to believe that mind and body are not merely connected, they are unified. I also believe that understanding mind-body unity is essential to recognizing how sound - which has vibratory effects on cells and organs, emotional effects on the brain and which taps a spiritual dimension as yet undefined - is the next frontier in holistic healing.”

One can infer that a holistic approach to mind-body medicine assumes that there is an innate “harmony” amongst the neural, cardiovascular, endocrine, lymphatic, immune and reproductive systems. Where there is dis-harmony, there is dis-ease.

The healing power of music and sound on the human body is only recently being understood. Although much of human kind has been utilizing music as therapy for several millennia, the mechanisms by which the mind and body respond to this ancient art form are just beginning to be revealed.

McClellan, Randall, PhD (1991)
The Healing Forces of Music, History, Theory & Practice: Element
Gaynor, Mitchell L, MD (1999)
The Healing Power of Sound: Shambhala
Patrick, George (1999) MD
The Effects of Vibroacoustic Music On Symptom Reduction: NIH
Allen, Karen, PhD (2001)
Normalization of Hypertensive Responses During Ambulatory
Surgical Stress by Perioperative Music : Psychosomatic Medicine