Listening to music and relieving pain

Music has been around for thousands of years, and continues to evolve and grow every day. Whether it is on the radio while you drive, or playing in a store while you shop, majority of our life is spent hearing music. It has been proven that music does a lot more than just entertain its listeners, but also improve mood, decrease depression, and spark creativity. Recently, there has been a new discovery of how music can directly affect its listeners—relieve chronic pain.

Recent studies have discovered that those with chronic pain such as fibromyalgia can decrease the chronic pain they feel by listening to music that they enjoy. By hearing music you know and love, you can experience relief without the help from medication or doctor visits.

This phenomenon can mostly be tied to how music affects your brain when you hear it. Listening to music you like releases opioids in the brain that soon spread throughout your body. This natural pain reliever reduces the feeling of pain while you enjoy the music. Not only does this technique help fight pain, it also reduces depression and anxiety, which are also two causes of chronic pain.

There is also suggestion that listening to music is a distraction, and hearing a good song is the perfect way to take your mind of off the pain, and directing it to what you are listening to.

While listening to your favorite music won’t cure your pain forever, it is a perfect solution for temporary relief at no cost to the side effects from medication, or money out of your wallet!

This blog is written for informational purposes only and should not be a substitute for actual medical treatment. Please contact the APM Augusta office to schedule an appointment if you are in need of medical care.