How well do you love music? I’m an addict. I
could listen to music all day. It’s that pleasant to
my soul. I feel good. I don’t remember my
worries. I pay attention to the lyrics and even
browse the most favorite ones on the internet.
Most radio listeners are music lovers. It’s a good
source to know the latest songs. Nowadays, with
the internet, it is easier to download your
favourite songs. Just note the song title as well
as the artiste, and then you are good to go.
Music has helped a lot of people with depression
as it lifts the spirit, encourages you and
improves your health because of the joy and
happiness it brings. A happy music connects the
physical with the emotional. As a result of the
heightened emotions, the responses are
manifested physically as head nodding, tapping,
dancing and even jumping. When you dance,
you do a form of body exercise. By exercising, an
internal heat is generated and you sweat some
more which is good for the body.
Scientists say that music can give intense
pleasure by delivering chemical rewards in the
brain that are equal to the joy of good food and
a part of the brain, the nucleus accumbens has
actually been thought to be the structure that
elicited the strongest response. They say it’s
important because it’s involved in forming
expectations and these are expectations that
could be rewarding.
Music can alter the heart rate and blood
pressure under some specific conditions. If you
listen to rap or rock genres of music, the heart
rate and mean arterial pressure are likely to go
up while the converse is true if you listen to
country and classical music. ( A research by
Sakomoto for the Journal of sound and
vibration).
It’s been demonstrated that just like laughter
does, joyful music causes the blood vessels to
dilate improving vascular health.
In another research by Professor Luciano
Bernardi, M.D, a Professor of internal medicine
at Pavia University, Italy, he found out that
music induces a continuous dynamic and to
some extent predictable changes in the
cardiovascular system. Some Italian researchers
work was also published in the Journal of
America Heart Association where they said that
music could in the future be used as a
therapeutic tool for blood pressure control and
rehabilitation.
Music forms an important part of a gathering
whether religious, political or cultural. It is hard
to find anyone who does not listen to music. That
is why I say that music is a mystery with still a
lot to unravel.

DAPO EGUNJOBI (DR)
Graduate of Medicine and Surgery, University of
Ibadan.