Health Benefits of Recreational Music Making

• Playing music increases human growth hormone (HgH) production among active older Americans. The findings revealed that the test group who took group keyboard lessons showed significantly higher levels of HgH than the control group of people who did not make music (University of Miami).

• Playing music fortifies the immune system -  recreational music-making modulates immunological responses and mood states in older adults
  Koyama M, Wachi M, Utsuyama M, Bittman B, Hirokawa K, Kitagawa M. (2009).. Journal of Medical and Dental Sciences, 56(2): 57-70.

• Playing music reduces stress and has been shown to reverse the body's response to stress at the DNA-level according to studies conducted by Loma Linda University School of Medicine and Applied Biosystems (as published in Medical Science Monitor).

• Playing music "significantly" lowered the heart rates and calmed and regulated the blood pressures and respiration rates of patients who had undergone surgery (Bryan Memorial Hospital in Lincoln, Neb., and St. Mary's Hospital in Mequon, Wis.)

• Cancer Subjects who participated in a clinical trial using the HealthRhythms protocol showed an increase in natural killer cell activity and an enhanced immune system. While this does not indicate a cure for cancer, such results may be of benefit for those facing this disease. (Bittman, Berk, Felten, Westengard, Simonton, Pappas, Ninehouser, 2001, Alternative Therapies, vol. 7, no. 1).

• Parkinson's Disease and Stroke: Rhythmic cues can help retrain the brain after a stroke or other neurological impairment, according to Michael Thaurt, director of Colorado State University's Center of Biomedical Research in Music.

• Music therapy has been found to reduce psychological stress in a study of 236 pregnant women (College of Nursing at Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan)

• Engaging in recreational music making reduces depression. Recent research with long-term care workers showed reduced depression (21.8 percent) six weeks after the completion of a recreational music making program consisting of one hour per week. (Source: A 2003 study conducted by Trip Umbach Healthcare Consulting, Inc.)

• Researchers have also discovered that hearing slow, steady rhythms, helps Parkinson patients move more steadily (Friedman, “Healing Power of the Drum,” 1994).