“So I say thank you for the music…”

The above title is an excerpt from the lyrics to an Abba song. It is so true to be thankful for the gift of music.

Last Sunday evening at our Bible study for young people group; ‘Redefine‘ we discussed and looked at the power and influence of music in our lives and what God has to say about music.

Whether you like classical, baroque, bluegrass, jazz, funk, folk, heavy metal or soul doesn’t really matter all that much. It is just a matter of taste and preference. What is amazing is the power that music has to bring health, wellbeing and healing into our lives.

After doing some research I found over 10 ways in which music benefits us.

Music can –

1 – Help Improve the quality of sleep we get. Listening to classical music has been shown to effectively treat insomnia in college students.

2 – Help ease pain in the body. Music can meaningfully reduce the perceived intensity of pain, especially in palliative medicine, geriatric care, or intensive care.

3 – Help increase our endurance and performance when exercising. By listening to our favourite motivating song or album, we can exercise harder and for longer.

4 – Helps with the body’s recovery after exercise.

5 – Help enhance blood vessel function. Scientists have found that listening to music made participants in the study feel happier and resulted in increased blood flow in their blood vessels.

6 – Help to reduce stress. Research has found that listening to music can relieve stress by triggering biochemical stress reducers.

7 – Relieve symptoms of depression. Listening to uplifting and calming music can help elevate people’s moods and alleviate the symptoms of depression (just ask King Saul)

8 – Help reduce anxiety as much as a massage does. Researcher have found that music’s effect on anxiety levels is similar to the effect of getting a massage.

9 – Help Improve the brain’s cognitive performance. Background music may enhance performance on cognitive tasks. One older study found that listening to music allowed test takers to complete more questions in the time allotted, and get more answers right.

10 – Help relax patients before surgery and ease their stress after surgery. A scientific study found that listening to music helped put waiting for heart surgery at ease. Another bit of research revealed that post-heart surgery patients that were duly bed-ridden were helped to remain calm and rest after the trauma of such invasive surgery by listening to music.

11 – Help ease recovery in stroke patients. Researchers in Finland concluded that when stroke patients listened to music for two hours a day, their verbal memory and attention improved and they had a more positive mood compared to patients who didn’t listen to music or who listened to audio books.

12 – Help people suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s. ‘A recent study shows that dementia and Alzheimer’s patients can recall memories and emotions, and have enhanced mental performance after singing classic hits and show tunes from movies and musicals.’ (For more on the how music helps with this see http://www.alzheimers.net/2014-07-21/why-music-boosts-brain-activity-in-dementia-patients/)

These are all benefits gained from simply listening to music. When we play an instrument, there are even more benefits to be gained; as explained in a short TED talk video written by Anita Collins.

In the Bible, we find that there was music at the beginning of creation (Job 38), and in-fact there is a whole book of songs right in the middle of the Bible (the book of Psalms). Also, there is continuous music going on around the throne of God (Revelation 5). God has given us a great gift in music.

It brings life and health and healing. It helps us thinks and feel more clearly. Best of all, we can use it to express our love and praise of God: We can us it to worship Him.

So I say thank you (God) for the music; and thank you to our great Redefine volunteers for looking at and studying God’s great gift of music.

This week, think about your favourite worship song, why you like it, how God speaks to you through it. Read through the Bible and look for how God uses music to speak to us.

Have a great week and be blessed!