Music can relieve stress
Are you watching Maestro on BBC2? I love it. For anyone who hasn't seen it, eight celebs have to learn how to be conductors and one gets knocked out of the programme each week. They are scored by a panel of eminent musicians and the two with the lowest scores face the vote of the orchestra they have just conducted. Finally, the last man (or woman) standing gets to conduct at the Last Night of the Proms. The music is brilliant. This week it was music from films and TV.

Of course, unlike some other reality shows, we don't get to vote. As most of us couldn't tell one end of a baton from the other, we might simply end up voting for the cutest (Alex James or David Soul) or the funniest (Sue Perkins - also the best in this case -or Bradley Walsh), even if they are complete rubbish. Have you noticed how many of the top TV prgrammes involve music? Britain's Got Talent (the singers always make the last ten), X-factor, Last Choir Standing, Maestro - we love to listen to music.

Music as therapy
But it's not just entertainment. Listening to music does wonders to alleviate stress, so long as it is music that makes us feel comfortable. Sitting down and forcing yourself to listen to relaxation music that you don't like may create stress, not alleviate it.

Music has always been a great healer. Music can be a significant mood-changer and reliever of stress, working on many levels at once. Many experts suggest that it is the rhythm of the music or the beat that has the calming effect on us although we may not be very conscious of it. This is because when we were babies in the womb, we were probably influenced by the heart beat of our mothers. We respond to the soothing music at later stages in life and perhaps associate it with the safe, relaxing, protective environment in the womb.

Music can be one of the most soothing or nerve wracking experiences available. Choosing what will work for any individual is difficult, most will choose something they 'like' instead of what might be beneficial. In doing extensive research on what any given piece of music produces in the physiological response system many unexpected things were found. Many of the so-called Meditation and Relaxation recordings actually produced adverse EEG patterns, just as bad as Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.

The surprising thing was many selections of Celtic, Native American as well as various music containing loud drums or flute were extremely soothing. The most profound finding was any music performed live and even at moderately loud volumes even if it was somewhat discordant had very a beneficial response. Whenever the proper sounds were experienced an amazing right/left brain hemisphere synchronization occurred. 

The entire human energetic system is extremely influenced by sounds, the physical body and chakra centers respond specifically to certain tones and frequencies. Actually playing or creating music also has extremely positive effects.

Among the first stress-fighting changes that take place when we hear a tune we like is an increase in deep breathing. The body's production of serotonin also accelerates.