STAY TUNED

Sounds Good

SUPPOSE YOU’RE OFFERED A NEW MIRACLE DRUG THAT, CONSUMED DAILY, ENHANCES YOUR HEALTH AND WELLNESS BY:

• Reducing stress and anxiety • Increasing your stamina and motivation during exercise • Improving immune function • Aiding your memory • Decreasing perception of pain • Helping you fall asleep

Even better, there are no negative side effects―and benefits are continually discovered. Interested? As it turns out this miracle “drug” already exists, is easily accessible, low-cost and doesn’t need a prescription. And chances are you have already enjoyed some of its many benefits. Of course, I’m talking about music.

While scientists have gathered an increasing body of evidence (most of it recent) confirming and quantifying benefits bestowed by music, devotees already know about many of these intuitively. Indeed, it doesn’t take a genius to point out that listening to a relaxing piece of music before bedtime can do wonders for falling asleep and getting a good night’s rest. Or on the opposite end of the spectrum, a playlist of favorite, upbeat tunes can make a potentially monotonous workout fly by quickly and even lead to better results.

Using music to enhance our well-being requires a conscious effort. The problem is that music can be so prevalent in our day-to-day life that it can easily become taken for granted. In a sense, we have this extraordinary, life-enhancing gift right under our noses (or rather, in our ears), but need to be reminded to take advantage of its numerous potential benefits. Further complicating the soundscape is the fact that music doesn’t always impact our lives positively, and itself can become a source of stress and anxiety. (To wit: that neighborhood party keeping you up past 2 a.m. with incessant, loud music ... that song they keep playing on the radio that you can’t stand ... the concert or movie where the music was so loud it took days for your ears to recover … your kids tuning the rest of the world out by constantly listening to music with their headphones. And so on.)

But the potential benefits of music outweigh any shortcomings stemming from its omnipresence in our society at large. Indeed, if the most basic tenets of a healthy lifestyle are to get a good night’s rest and to exercise regularly, and if music has been demonstrated to help us fall asleep and make our workouts more effective, then logic dictates that we should give music the opportunity to assist us in those daily regimens. The key is to personally find the right pieces of music at the right times to achieve the results we desire. And with music now being used in medical arenas, from achieving faster surgery recovery, treating Alzheimer’s patients and even fighting cancer, there seem to be no limits to music’s potential for helping us lead fulfilling,

healthy lives. Pianist, instructor and musicologist Erik Entwistle received an undergraduate degree in music from Dartmouth College. He earned a postgraduate degree in piano performance at Washington University in St. Louis. He earned his doctorate in musicology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He teaches on Sanibel.

THE PROBLEM IS THAT MUSIC CAN BE SO PREVALENT IN OUR

DAY-TO-DAY LIFE THAT IT CAN EASILY BECOME TAKEN FOR GRANTED.