The study conducted by researchers at McGill University in Montreal and published in January 2011 issue of Nature Neuroscience showed that the music increased dopamine levels in certain areas of the brain. Various types of music were shown to be effective depending on individual preferences. (1). On the other hand, dopamine is crucial in the brain system of movement organization, deficiencies of brain cells producing dopamine, as we know, result in Parkinson’s disease, and the only reliable method of treatment is the L-DOPA medication having severe side effects and gradually losing its efficiency as the disease progresses.

Other studies revealed that music (e.g., exposure to Mozart’s music) can decrease the blood pressure in hypertensive patients and even experimental animals. Increased dopamine levels improve dopaminergic neurotransmission in epilepsy (2), dementia (3), and ADHD (4).

The beneficial effects of music are thought to work through brain structures involved in reward processing including the nucleus accumbens* and the ventral tegmental area**, hypothalamus*** and insula****

Sources

1. Music – it does a body and mind good, Baxterbulletin.com

2. Brain Res. Rev. 25 (1997), pp. 1–26

3. Exp. Aging Res., Volume 27, Issue 3 July 2001 , pp. 215 – 228

4. J. Learn. Disabil. 29 (1996), pp. 238–246

Footnotes

* also known as “center of motivation”

** a component of the reward pathway in the brain

*** a very important brain area responsible for many bodily functions as well as instincts for basic survival, fight or flight, mating, eating, and drinking, etc.

**** linked to emotions, perception, motor control, self-awareness, cognitive functioning, and interpersonal experience.