Handbook of Music Psychology. Neurologist Dr. Gottfried Schlaug of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston found that the cerebellum, which contains about 70 percent of the brain's neurons, is about 5 percent larger in expert male musicians than in men who have not had extensive musical training. Someday Help Repair Brain. Los Angeles Times, November 9, 1998. Listening to Baroque music while studying can enhance one's ability to memorize spellings, poetry, and foreign words.
Music can boost productivity in the workplace.
Transcendent music and loud music can raise our body heat a few degrees, while soft music with a weak beat can lower it. In an aerobics class, researchers reported that music increased the subjects' strength and improved their ability to pace their movements, all while enhancing their mood and motivation. Doctors in the coronary care unit of Saint Agnes Hospital in Baltimore report that a half an hour of listening to classical music produced the same effect as ten milligrams of Valium. Music can help migraine sufferers reduce the intensity, frequency, and duration of the headaches. Music therapists working with Alzheimer's patients have found that rhythmic interaction or listening to music has resulted in decreased agitation, increased focus and concentration, enhanced ability to respond verbally and behaviorally, elimination of demented speech, improved ability to respond to questions, and better social interaction.