Music is a splendid thing. It can cheer you
up when you're sad, make you dance like a
fool, and allow you to drown out the world
when you need to.
But music has its scientific uses, too. The documentary 'Alive Inside' details how Dementia patients react positively when given iPods filled with their old favorite songs. The music seems to help
them "come alive" again. While listening to
familiar songs, many of the documentary's
patients can sing along, answer questions
about their past, and even carry on brief
conversations with others.
"Music imprints itself on the brain deeper
than any other human experience," says
neurologist Oliver Sacks, who appears in the
film. "Music evokes emotion, and emotion
can bring with it memory."
The documentary follows recent studies
showing that music can improve the
memories of dementia patients, and even
help them develop new memories.
Here, a look at some other things music has
been known to "cure":

1. Low Birth Weight
Babies born too early often require
extended stays in the hospital to help them
gain weight and strength. To help facilitate
this process, many hospitals turn to music.
A team of Canadian researchers found that
playing music to preemies reduced their
pain levels and encouraged better feeding
habits, which in turn helped with weight-
gain. Hospitals use musical instruments to
mimic the sounds of a mother's heartbeat
and womb to lull premature babies to sleep .
Researchers also say that playing calming
Mozart to premature infants significantly
reduces the amount of energy they expend,
which allows them gain weight.
It "makes you wonder whether neonatal
intensive care units should consider music
exposure as standard practice for at-risk
infants," says Dr. Nestor Lopez-Duran at
child-psych.org .
***Listen to;
-Take Banana by D'Prince

2. Droopy Plants
If music helps babies grow, can it do the
same thing for plants? Dorothy Retallack
says yes. She wrote a book in 1973 called
The Sound of Music and Plants , which
detailed the effects of music on plant
growth. Retallack played rock music to one
group of plants and easy listening music to
another, identical group. At the end of the
study, the 'easy listening' plants were
uniform in size, full and green, and were
even leaning toward the source of the
music. The rock music plants had grown
tall, but they were droopy, with faded
leaves, and were leaning away from the
radio.
-Land is Green by T.Y. Bello

3. The Damaging Effects of Brain
Damage
Of the 1.5 million Americans who sustain
brain damage each year, roughly 90,000 of
them will be left with a long-term
movement or speech disability. As
treatment, researchers use music to
stimulate the areas of the brain that control
these two functions.
When given a rhythm to walk or dance to,
people with neurological damage caused by
stroke or Parkinson's disease can "regain a
symmetrical stride and a sense of balance."
The beats in music help serve as a footstep
cue for the brain.
Similarly, rhythm and pitch can help
patients sing what words they can't say. A
study of autistic children who couldn't
speak found that music therapy helped these
children articulate words. Some of these
kids said their first words ever as a result of
the treatment.
"We are just starting to understand how
powerful music can be. We don't know what
the limits are." says Michael De Georgia,
director of the Center for Music and
Medicine at Case Western Reserve
University's University Hospitals Case
Medical Center in Cleveland.
-Sare by Konga

4. Teen Loitering
Public libraries, malls, and train stations
already know this: Teenagers typically don't
like classical music. In fact, they dislike it so
much that "it sends them scurrying away
like frightened mice," says the LA Times. The
theory is that when the brain hears
something it dislikes, it suppresses
dopamine, "the pleasure chemical." And as
teenagers' moods fall, they go elsewhere to
find something to bring it back up.
So if you want the neighbor kids to get off
your lawn, turn up the Tchaikovsky.
-Holla at ur Boy by Wizkid

5. Hearing Loss
OK, maybe music can't cure hearing loss,
but it may help prevent it. A study of 163
adults, 74 of them lifelong musicians, had
participants take a series of hearing tests.
The lifelong musicians processed sound
better than non-musicians, with the gap
widening with age. "A 70-year-old musician
understood speech in a noisy environment
as well as a 50-year-old non-musician,"
explains Linda Searling at the Washington
Post.
-Seun rere by Christy Essien Ibokwe

6. A Broken Heart
Not the kind caused by rejection, but the
kind caused by a heart attack. Music can
help patients who are recovering from heart
attacks and heart surgery by lowering blood
pressure, slowing the heart rate and
reducing anxiety. As a preventative, try
listening to "joyful" music, or songs that
make you feel good. Research says listening
to songs that evoke a sense of joy causes
increased circulation and expanded blood
vessels, which encourages good vascular
health.
-Lade by Djinne

7. Poor Sport Performance
In 2005, a UK study found that listening to
music during sports training can boost
athletic performance by up to 20 percent.
That's roughly equal to the boost some
athletes get from illegal performance-
enhancing drugs, except music doesn't show
up on a drug test. For best results, try
music with a fast tempo during intense
training and slower songs during cooldown.
-Power of Naija by Cobams, Omawumi & 2Face

8. Grumpy Teens
In a 2008 study, researcher Tobias
Greitemeyer wanted to study how lyrics
impacted teenagers' attitudes and behavior.
To do so, he exposed one group of teens to
"socially conscious" songs with a positive
message, like Michael Jackson's "Heal the
World." Another other group listened to
songs with a "neutral" message. The
researchers then "accidentally" knocked
over a cup of pencils. The group listening to
positive songs not only rushed to help more
quickly, but picked up five times as many
pencils as the other group.
-Leaders of Tommorow by Bracket

9. Illiteracy
A 2009 study comparing two groups of
second graders from similar demographics
suggests learning music boosts reading
abilities. The only major difference between
the two groups was that one learned music
notation, sight-reading and other skills,
while the control group did not. Each group
was tested for literacy before and after the
school year. The end-of-year scores for the
control group improved only slightly from
their beginning of the year scores, while the
kids with a music education scored
"significantly higher," especially on
vocabulary tests.
-Nigeria by Funmi Adams

10. Sluggish Alcohol Sales
Are you a wine store owner suffering from
an overstock of German vino? Try pumping
some German tunes through your store. A
1999 study showed that doing so boosted
German wine sales, and similarly, playing
French music boosted French wine sales.
Customers said they were completely
oblivious to what music was being played.
-Shayo by Bigano

11. Wine Snobbery
Ever purchased a bottle of wine with
recommended listening printed on the
bottle? Well, makers of cheap wine may
want to consider that tactic. A group of
researchers say certain types of music can
"enhance" the way wine tastes by up to 60
percent. In a study, wine-drinkers rated
white wine as 40 percent more refreshing
when it was accompanied by "zingy and
refreshing" music ("Just Can't Get Enough"
by Nouvelle Vague was their go-to zingy
song). The taste of red wine was altered 60
percent by "powerful and heavy music" like
Orff's "Carmina Burana."
"The tongue is easy to dupe." says Jonah
Lehrer at Wired.
-Pop Something by Dr. Sid

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some legends like Labgaja, Dan Maraya Jos & Onyeaka Onwenu lined up on my playlist.