SING your Way into Good Health!
source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/doctors-prescription-2-arias-a-chorus/article1186...
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- MichelleSun
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Singing has long been touted as good for the soul. Now, a growing body of research is showing it can also help heal the body.
Scientists and medical professionals across the globe are reaching conclusions similar to those of Dr. Richman-Eisenstat, who now prescribes singing to some patients.
In Europe, patients with Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and other neurological disorders are forming choirs to help strengthen their throat muscles. In New York and elsewhere, stroke patients are using melodies to facilitate their speech recovery. Researchers in Vancouver are exploring how music affects the brains of patients with bipolar disorder and depression.
Starting this month, much of that research will be co-ordinated in Canada. More than 70 researchers from over a dozen countries will join forces through a consortium called Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing (AIRS). Based at the University of Prince Edward Island, the program has secured federal and private funding for research projects over the next seven years.
“Although there have been some researchers working on one or another aspects of singing, there's never been another opportunity to bring these researchers together in an interdisciplinary way,” said Annabel Cohen, a professor of music psychology and the head of AIRS.
The researchers will collaborate on research projects that fall under one of three umbrella topics: development of singing ability; the connections between singing and learning; and the enhancement of health and well-being through singing.
But it is that last domain that many researchers say is generating serious interest from a growing number of medical researchers.
“The separation of music and health is not necessary,” said Bradley Vines, a researcher at the Institute of Mental Health at the University of British Columbia, who has studied how singing affects the brains of stroke patients at Harvard.
“I think that music can be used as a powerful tool towards preventing illness. … So in the future a stroke specialist may recommend that a person join a choir. That could be on the list of normal things to recommend.”
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Scientists and medical professionals across the globe are reaching conclusions similar to those of Dr. Richman-Eisenstat, who now prescribes singing to some patients.
In Europe, patients with Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and other neurological disorders are forming choirs to help strengthen their throat muscles. In New York and elsewhere, stroke patients are using melodies to facilitate their speech recovery. Researchers in Vancouver are exploring how music affects the brains of patients with bipolar disorder and depression.
Starting this month, much of that research will be co-ordinated in Canada. More than 70 researchers from over a dozen countries will join forces through a consortium called Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing (AIRS). Based at the University of Prince Edward Island, the program has secured federal and private funding for research projects over the next seven years.
“Although there have been some researchers working on one or another aspects of singing, there's never been another opportunity to bring these researchers together in an interdisciplinary way,” said Annabel Cohen, a professor of music psychology and the head of AIRS.
The researchers will collaborate on research projects that fall under one of three umbrella topics: development of singing ability; the connections between singing and learning; and the enhancement of health and well-being through singing.
But it is that last domain that many researchers say is generating serious interest from a growing number of medical researchers.
“The separation of music and health is not necessary,” said Bradley Vines, a researcher at the Institute of Mental Health at the University of British Columbia, who has studied how singing affects the brains of stroke patients at Harvard.
“I think that music can be used as a powerful tool towards preventing illness. … So in the future a stroke specialist may recommend that a person join a choir. That could be on the list of normal things to recommend.”
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- groups:
- Music, Health, Alternative Medicine, medicine manufacturing
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- tags:
- Music, Health, Medicine, Alternative Medicine
