Breckyn Martens    Music can be more than just a catchy tune, music also can have some amazing health benefits that can help people in their day-to-day lives as well. To most of us, music is just something that will help us focus, something to dance to, or something that will immerse a quiet room in the sounds of amazing art work. But believe it or not, music can help people through all sorts of things. Music is a stress reliever, can reduce pain, and probably the most surprising of all, can be used to help with the symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

   Alzheimer’s is a disease that affects the memory and alters reality of a person. This disease is very common in people who are 60 years or older. If the large quantity of medication is not the road that you want to take your loved one down, then there is one other road that you can take to hopefully get some progress. Art and music therapy is a lesser known route to helping with the effects of this scary and sad disease. According to webmd, there are 3 different ways that you can use music therapy to help with this disease. The first one is singing or playing songs from their past to hopefully help remind them of their past and their memories. The next one is upbeat songs to have them tap their toes or even getting them to dance. The last one is soothing or relaxing music that can calm their anxiety. If these therapies could help in any way, it could possibly help 5.4 million people in America with this life changing disease.

   Depression and anxiety are world wide and can affect even the happiest people. You could ask anyone that you know with either depression or anxiety, there is a good chance that they will tell you that music helps them. According to unr.edu, the best type of stress relieving music is Native American, Celtic, Indian stringed-instruments, drums, and flutes. Also, according to David H. Bradshaw, PhD, from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, “Our results suggest that engaging activities like music listening may be most effective for reducing pain in high-anxiety persons who can easily become absorbed in activities.”

    Even though it may not sound like such a big deal to many people who don’t have or know anybody with this problem, but the adaa (Anxiety and Depression Association of America) has a different story. According to them, over 40 million people in the United States alone are affected by this silent killer, and has claimed the lives of over 41,000 in 2013 which is over 18% of the U.S. population.

   Music is a powerful creation that can move people to tears, or make people want to dance. To some people, music could be life or death or change someone’s life. So next time you listen to your favorite song, just think about how powerful it could be to someone. Even if it’s a silly or stupid song, it could be so much more.