Music's Affects on the Human Body

Music does many things for the human body including, masking unpleasant sounds and feelings, slowing down and equalizing brain waves, affecting respiration, affecting the heartbeat, pulse rate, and blood pressure, reducing muscle tension and improving body movement and coordination, affecting the body temperature, regulating stress-related hormones, boosting the immune function, changing our perception of space and time, strengthening our memory and learning, boosting productivity, enhancing romance and sexuality, stimulating digestion, fostering endurance, enhancing unconscious receptivity to symbolism, and generating a sense of safety and well-being. The next few paragraphs will address each way that music has an affect on our body so one can get a more full understanding of how something like music can affect our bodies in such a large way. (Campbell Index) Music masks unpleasant sounds and feelings in many ways. A simple example of how this is done is when you take a trip to the dentist. If you're going to get a root canal or something else that would involve a drill, you usually don't want to get it done because most people are terrified of drills, and the sound of the drill. And we all know the music the dentist plays in the office. We all dread it. But what we don't know is that it is this music that can most of the time disguise or even balance out the sounds of the dentist's drill. But what the music doesn't necessarily do is calm you down while you're in the waiting room waiting for the moment you go into that room, sit in the chair, and have the doctor start to drill away on your teeth. (Campbell 64) Music can slow down and equalize brain waves. There are 4 kinds of waves that the brain has. Beta waves, Alpha waves, Theta waves, and Delta waves. All of these waves are measured in hertz. Beta waves range from 14-20 hertz, Alpha waves range from 9 to 13 hertz, Theta waves from 4 to 7 hertz, and Delta from .5-3 hertz. When we focus on daily