MilliOnAir Magazine July/August | Page 166

 If Music Be

The Food Of Love,

Play On.

By Health Contributor Heather S tewart-Whyte

MilliOnAir | HEALTH BEAUTY LIFESTYLE

I love music, who doesn’t?  From our mothers beating heart in the womb, rhythm is in our blood, the base of music is all around us.

William Shakespeare mused with the idea that an excess of music may cure his obsession with love, in a way that eating too much food removes ones appetite for food!

I am drawn to the slow tempo of a ballad when my heart is touched by sorrow and love, in fact also when I’m feeling creative, it seems I like ballads more than I realised!

Pop music gives me energy and I often use it when I’m cleaning the kitchen. With the odd outburst of song from myself ( doesn’t last long because I really can’t sing and it puts me off : ) ) and some pretty cool dance moves if I may say so myself, the boring task of cleaning the kitchen is done in not time.

For many years now there has been one song only that pops into my head when I’m feeling so low and I have no more tears to cry………..”Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen, it always gives me strength to get up and keep going, reminds me of the great moments I had in life and that there will be many more to come! Yes, it does all that for me, in just one song, pretty impressive eh?

Music is therapy.

It really is, and has become a recognised therapy to help with stress relief, depression and anxiety. It can help the elderly with memory loss and diseases such as Alzheimers and Dementia.

Deaf people can feel the beat of music. The sound reaches the ears because it makes a wave or vibration. The brain processes different parts of music ( pitch, beat, timbre) in that of hearing and deaf people, these places are the same. ( Research from Hauser 2011). I wanted to look this up because i wanted to be sure that everyone can experience the wonders of music, even if one can’t hear.

It can help children learn, I used to clap to a beat to help my children remember things they had to learn, much like singing the alphabet.

And of course dancing to music helps with physical co-ordination.