The Healing Power of Music

We have all done it. Turned to music to set a mood, raise the spirits or sooth the mind. Maybe you crank the car stereo to your favorite station or insert your favorite tape or CD as you ready yourself for the rush hour traffic you know is ahead. Perhaps it's the Walkman you wear as you set out for your morning exercise. It could be the favorite tunes you play each night as you relax and await sleep. Whatever the reason, one thing is clear. Music is not only entertainment. It is medicine for the body and soul.

The power of music is astonishing. From Bach to Basie to Bad Boyz, music can help to raise your spatial IQ, sound away pain and fear, boost positive thoughts and-more-simply-make your spirit sing.

In health care, the idea of using music as a healing influence is at least as old as the writings of Aristotle and Plato. The scientific explanation of how music bridges the gap between the ear and the psyche is not completely clear, but many studies have shown amazing physiological and emotional effects. For example, combined with anesthesia or other medicine, music can act as a sedative to help ease pain. It can lift a patient's mood, promote stress reduction and help elicit calm feelings. For labor and delivery, music can help a woman maintain focus. And music can encourage movement for someone in physical therapy. A stroke victim who cannot speak may hear a familiar song and begin singing along. During my personal experience of critical illness, as I lay medically paralyzed breathing by virtue of mechanical ventilation, surrounded by strangers, my fears about my impending death and the process of dying were terrifying and relentless.. My wife and angel, guessing my state of terror brought several of my favorite music cassettes into my critical care unit and let the tapes play for hours at a time. The effect was immediate and dramatic as I found myself concentrating on familiar musical passages that have been a part of me since I was a child. Fear and terror was replaced by sounds familiar and reassuring. That I survived ARDS through the grace of my Lord and the skill of my medical team is the very reason for the existence of Muskegon Music Ministries. Our ministry of providing free cassettes filled with carefully chosen favorite songs and artist of the patients and loved ones we serve is available to anyone who asks. If you know of a person who could benefit from our ministry, please contact us and allow us to produce music cassettes for them. Like so many in health care, Muskegon Music Ministries exist to be part of the healing process.

Greg and Nancy Fleckenstein

Many people do attest to music doing wonders for their loved ones, especially while in the coma.

Click here to read Greg's story

Muskegon Music Ministries is a Michigan non-profit corporation. The IRS has designated MMM as a charitable non-taxable publicly funded 501©(3) corporation to which all donations qualify as a 100% deductible charitable donation on federal income tax forms.

ARDS Foundation
3100 Dundee Road, Suite 402
Northbrook, IL 60062
PH: 312-749-7047

Eileen Rubin Zacharias, President
Paula Blonski, Vice President

The ARDS Foundation

All donations are tax deductible in the amount allowed by the law. The ARDS Foundation is a federal 501(c)(3) organization.

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