Author Archives: Lillian

Polio and prevention

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Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease. There is no cure, but there are safe and effective vaccines. The strategy to eradicate polio is therefore based on preventing infection by immunizing every child until transmission stops and the world is polio-free.

The disease

Polio (poliomyelitis) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis in a matter of hours.

 

polio-prevention-01 15102015

An Indian boy’s legs are shrunken from paralysis caused by polio WHO/T. Moran

Who is at risk?

Polio can strike at any age, but it mainly affects children under five years old.

Transmission

Polio is spread through person-to-person contact. When a child is infected with wild poliovirus, the virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. It is then shed into the environment through the faeces where it can spread rapidly through a community, especially in situations of poor hygiene and sanitation. If a sufficient number of children are fully immunized against polio, the virus is unable to find susceptible children to infect, and dies out.

Young children who are not yet toilet-trained are a ready source of transmission, regardless of their environment. Polio can be spread when food or drink is contaminated by faeces. There is also evidence that flies can passively transfer poliovirus from faeces to food.

Most people infected with the poliovirus have no signs of illness and are never aware they have been infected. These symptomless people carry the virus in their intestines and can “silently” spread the infection to thousands of others before the first case of polio paralysis emerges.

For this reason, WHO considers a single confirmed case of polio paralysis to be evidence of an epidemic – particularly in countries where very few cases occur.

Symptoms

Most infected people (90%) have no symptoms or very mild symptoms and usually go unrecognized. In others, initial symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs.

Acute flaccid paralysis (AFP)

One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, usually in the legs. This is caused by the virus entering the blood stream and invading the central nervous system. As it multiplies, the virus destroys the nerve cells that activate muscles. The affected muscles are no longer functional and the limb becomes floppy and lifeless – a condition known as acute flaccid paralysis (AFP).

All cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) among children under fifteen years of age are reported and tested for poliovirus within 48 hours of onset.

Bulbar polio

More extensive paralysis, involving the trunk and muscles of the thorax and abdomen, can result in quadriplegia. In the most severe cases (bulbar polio), poliovirus attacks the nerve cells of the brain stem, reducing breathing capacity and causing difficulty in swallowing and speaking. Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.

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In the 1940s and 1950s, people with bulbar polio were immobilized inside “iron lungs” – huge metal cylinders that operated like a pair of bellows to regulate their breathing and keep them alive. Today, the iron lung has largely been replaced by the positive pressure ventilator, but it is still in use in some countries.

Post-polio syndrome

Around 40% of people who survive paralytic polio may develop additional symptoms 15–40 years after the original illness. These symptoms – called post-polio syndrome – include new progressive muscle weakness, severe fatigue and pain in the muscles and joints.

Risk factors for paralysis

No one knows why only a small percentage of infections lead to paralysis. Several key risk factors have been identified as increasing the likelihood of paralysis in a person infected with polio. These include:

  • immune deficiency
  • pregnancy
  • removal of the tonsils (tonsillectomy)
  • intramuscular injections, e.g. medications
  • strenuous exercise
  • injury.

Treatment and prevention

There is no cure for polio, only treatment to alleviate the symptoms.  Heat and physical therapy is used to stimulate the muscles and antispasmodic drugs are given to relax the muscles. While this can improve mobility, it cannot reverse permanent polio paralysis.

Polio can be prevented through immunization. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, almost always protects a child for life.

– See more at: http://www.polioeradication.org/Polioandprevention.aspx#sthash.QxJcGYNx.dpuf

http://www.polioeradication.org/Polioandprevention.aspx

History of Polio

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In the early 20th century, polio was one of the most feared diseases in industrialized countries, paralysing hundreds of thousands of children every year. Soon after the introduction of effective vaccines in the 1950s and 1960s however, polio was brought under control and practically eliminated as a public health problem in these countries.

It took somewhat longer for polio to be recognized as a major problem in developing countries. Lameness surveys during the 1970s revealed that the disease was also prevalent in developing countries. As a result, during the 1970s routine immunization was introduced worldwide as part of national immunization programmes, helping to control the disease in many developing countries.

In 1988, when the Global Polio Eradication Initiative began, polio paralysed more than 1000 children worldwide every day. Since then, more than 2.5 billion children have been immunized against polio thanks to the cooperation of more than 200 countries and 20 million volunteers, backed by an international investment of more than US$ 11 billion.

There are now only 2 countries that have never stopped polio transmission and global incidence of polio cases has decreased by 99%.

There has also been success in eradicating certain strains of the virus; of the three types of wild polioviruses (WPVs), the last case of type 2 was reported in 1999 and its eradication was declared in September 2015; the most recent case of type 3 dates to November 2012.

However, tackling the last 1% of polio cases has still proved to be difficult. Conflict, political instability, hard-to-reach populations, and poor infrastructure continue to pose challenges to eradicating the disease. Each country offers a unique set of challenges which require local solutions. Thus, in 2013 the Global Polio Eradication Initiative launched its most comprehensive and ambitious plan for completely eradicating polio. It is an all-encompassing strategic plan that clearly outlines measures for eliminating polio in its last strongholds and for maintaining a polio-free world.

Use this interactive timeline to trace the history of polio from 1580 B.C. to the present.

  • 1580–1350 BC            1789                   1840           1894
  • 1907                            1908                   1916           1931
  • 1938                            1948                   1955           1961
  • 1974                            1970-80              1985           1988
  • 1990                            1991                   1994           1995
  • 1996                            1997                   1998           1999
  • 2000                            2001                   2002           2003
  • 2004                            2005                   2006           2007
  • 2008                            2009

1580–1350 BC

An Egyptian stele portrays a priest with a withered leg, suggesting that polio has existed for thousands of years.

– See more at: http://www.polioeradication.org/Polioandprevention/Historyofpolio.aspx#sthash.9ns6usff.dpuf

Mental Health: Depression

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Depression is a dysregulation of the brain function that control emotions (or moods). It is a mood disorder characterized by intense and persistent negative emotions. These emotions negatively impact people’s lives, causing social, educational, personal and family difficulties.

Depression is different than feeling sad or down. It is a medical condition affecting the way mood is controlled by the brain. Someone with Depression can’t just “snap out of it.” Depression affects the way he or she thinks, feels and acts. It becomes a negative lens through which he or she sees and experiences the world. 

When Depression happens, it often lasts for many months and then sometimes gets better. This is called an episode of Depression. Most people who get Depression will experience many episodes during their lifetime. Depression is often called Major Depressive Disorder (MDD).

Sometimes a negative event (such as the loss of a loved one, or severe and prolonged stress) will trigger an episode of Depression but often episodes will occur spontaneously. Depression is not caused by the usual stresses of life. Depression is often accompanied by feelings of anxiety and causes significant problems with family, friends, work or school. 

How can you tell if someone you know might have Depression?*

Depression, and other mental disorders, should only be diagnosed by a medical doctor, clinical psychologist, or a trained health provider who has spent time with the teenager and has conducted a proper mental health assessment. Diagnoses are complicated with many nuances. Please do not attempt to diagnose someone based on the symptoms you read about in magazines or on the internet. If you are concerned, speak to a trained health professional.

It can be confusing when people use the word “depression” to mean different things. We should try to save the word “depression” to mean the mental disorder of Depression, and use other, more exact words to describe the negative emotions that we feel. 

Use the Right Words!
USE RIGHT WORDS
There are 3 types of depressive disorders:
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

Someone with MDD will experience episodes of intense depression (lasting weeks to years), separated by periods of relatively stable mood. When people refer to Depression, they usually mean MDD.

Persistent Depressive Disorder (formerly Dysthymia) 

People with Persistent Depressive Disorder will experience depressive episodes that are less intense than in MDD but last much longer. For teenagers, these depressive episodes last at least one year and for adults, they last two years or more

Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder

Children up to 18-years-old can be diagnosed with Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder if they have persistent irritability and frequent episodes of unreasonable verbal and physical aggression.

To determine if someone you care about may be at risk for Depression, consider the following questions:

  • Does the person feel sad or low most of the time?
  • Has the person lost interest in activities he or she usually enjoys?
  • Does he or she have trouble concentrating?
  • Does he or she feel fatigued or tired much of the time?
  • Does he or she feel hopeless or worthless?
  • Does he or she experience much less enjoyment in life?
  • Has this behaviour lasted at least two weeks, and been present every day for most of the day?

There are three areas of symptoms that often present in youth experiencing depressive episodes. Here are some things to watch for:

Mood
  • Feeling persistently depressed, sad, unhappy or something similar
  • Feeling a loss of pleasure, or a noticeable disinterest in all or almost all activities
  • Feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness or excessive and inappropriate guilt
Thinking
  • Diminished ability to think, concentrate or make decisions
  • Suicidal thoughts/plans or preoccupation with death and dying

Body Sensations
  • Excessive fatigue or loss of energy
  • Significant sleep problems (difficulty falling asleep or sleeping excessively)
  • Physical slowness or, in some cases, restlessness
  • Significant decrease or increase in appetite that may lead to noticeable weight change

If someone in your life has five of the above symptoms (with at least one of them being a mood symptom) present every day for most of the day during the same two week period, then he or she may be experiencing Clinical Depression (MDD). Talk to your family doctor about your concerns. This behaviour cannot be due to a substance, medicine or another illness and must be different than the individual’s usual mood state.

*In accordance with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition.

Remember, you cannot diagnose someone with Depression without a proper mental health assessment conducted by a properly trained health provider.

http://teenmentalhealth.org/learn/mental-disorders/depression/

Mental Health: Bipolar Disorder

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Bipolar Disorder is a type of mood disorder. However, unlike in Depression, the problem in Bipolar Disorder is in the brain’s regulation of the usual ups and downs of normal mood. In Bipolar Disorder, people cycle between periods of Mania (i.e., feeling really elevated or irritable) and periods of either normal mood or Depression (i.e., feeling really sad and low). These cycles (sometimes called episodes) of Depression and Mania may be frequent (daily) or infrequent (years apart). Although adults in a manic episode can act euphoric and grandiose, young people in a manic episode can sometimes appear more irritable and grandiose.

Someone with Bipolar Disorder will usually experience a depressive episode before experiencing a manic episode, and may even have several depressive episodes prior to a manic episode. This is why some people with Bipolar Disorder are originally diagnosed with Depression.

How can you tell if someone you know might have Bipolar Disorder?*

Bipolar Disorder, and other mental disorders, should only be diagnosed by a medical doctor, clinical psychologist, or other trained health provider who has spent time with the teenager and has conducted a proper mental health assessment. Diagnoses are complicated with many nuances. Please do not attempt to diagnose someone based on the symptoms you read in magazines or on the internet. If you are concerned, speak to a trained health professional.

There are two types of Bipolar Disorder: 

  1. Bipolar I Disorder: The teenager must experience at least one manic episode, although he or she will likely also experience depressive episodes.
  2. Bipolar II Disorder: The teenager must experience at least one depressive episode and one hypomanic episode. A hypomanic episode is a less-severe version of a manic episode. See below for further details.
Depressive Episodes

These look similar to the depressive episodes experienced when someone has Depression. They occur nearly every day for at least two weeks and can include:

  • Feeling sad and low most of the day
  • Losing interest and pleasure in most activities
  • Losing or gaining a considerable amount of weight
  • Eating a lot more or a lot less than usual
  • Difficulty sleeping or sleeping all the time
  • Restlessness or a sense of moving in slow motion that is noticeable to others
  • Fatigue or lack of energy
  • Feeling worthless or guilty for no reason
  • Difficulty thinking or concentrating
  • Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide
Manic Episodes

These occur most of the day, nearly every day for at least one week. They can include:

  • Inflated self-esteem or grandiosity (e.g., acting like he or she is superior to others)
  • Little need for sleep (e.g., feeling rested after only 3 hours of sleep)
  • Need to continue talking – rapid and sometimes confused speech
  • Having too many thoughts at once, feeling a pressure of thoughts in his or her head
  • Acting distracted or unable to focus
  • Increase in goal-directed activity (e.g. either socially, at school or work) or restlessness, although the goal he or she is working toward may not make sense or be logical
  • Excessive involvement in risky activities with painful consequences (e.g., expensive shopping sprees, foolish business investments, drug use, sexual promiscuity)
  • In severe cases, people can experience hallucinations (i.e., hearing or seeing something that isn’t actually there) or delusions (i.e., believing something that isn’t true even when confronted with proof)
Hypomanic Episodes

These are similar to manic episodes and last for four consecutive days or longer, but don’t significantly interfere with the person’s ability to live his or her life. Because hypomanic symptoms are less severe, they don’t always seem problematic to the person, even though they’re an obvious departure from his or her usual behaviour. Although a person may be very productive and accomplish many tasks when experiencing Hypomania, he or she also may become involved in risky behaviour or activities that result in painful consequences.

These symptoms are much more severe and last longer than the regular ups and downs of life. Although most people’s moods change when they experience positive or negative events, the moods swings of someone with Bipolar Disorder occur without any external provocation and are not easily controlled by the person. Some individuals will experience a ‘mixed state’, which is Mania and Depression at the same time.

For many people with Bipolar Disorder, there may be periods of time (lasting from days to years) where the mood is under better control and more likely to stay within “usual” limits. This is especially true if the person is being successfully treated for the illness.

* Statistics are sourced from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition.

Remember, you cannot diagnose someone with Bipolar Disorder without a proper mental health assessment conducted by a properly trained health provider.

http://teenmentalhealth.org/learn/mental-disorders/bipolar-disorder/

Mental Health: Schizophrenia

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Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder that often begins in late adolescence or early adulthood. It is an illness of the brain that affects how a person perceives the world, thinks, and behaves. Many people confuse psychosis with violence but they are not the same thing. In fact, people with psychotic disorders like Schizophrenia are much more likely to be the victim of a crime than to commit one. Psychosis means “to break from reality,” and that’s exactly what Schizophrenia is – a mental disorder that causes the individual to have difficulty distinguishing what is real from what is not. Although Schizophrenia is a psychotic illness, psychosis can also occur in other mental disorders, such as: Bipolar Disorder, Depression, or as a result of drug ingestion or Substance Use Disorder.

Individuals with Schizophrenia experience these two categories of symptoms, plus many others. These categories are symptoms based on problems with cognition (delusions) and problems with perceptions (hallucinations):

Belief in something that is not true, even when confronted with proof. The most common delusions are related to persecution, grandiosity, religion, or jealousy.
  • E.g., belief that a group or organization is out to get you; belief that the star of your favourite TV show is speaking directly to you; belief that you are the reincarnation of King Henry VIII; belief that someone you’ve never met is in love with you; belief that someone else is controlling your behaviour.
 What causes Schizophrenia and who is at risk?

Schizophrenia is equally common in men and women, affecting about one percent of the population, although the age of onset is usually about 10 years later in women than men. Some research suggests that women tend to have more paranoid delusions and hallucinations, where as men often experience more negative and disorganized symptoms. 

Schizophrenia is linked to structural and functional abnormalities in the brain. The regions of the brain that control and coordinate thinking, perceptions and behaviours are not functioning properly, making it difficult for people to filter and process information. Frequently, people with Schizophrenia experience the information that comes into their senses as garbled and mixed together. A variety of different neurochemical pathways are involved, including brain pathways that use the chemicals dopamine and serotonin. The limbic system (an area of the brain involved with emotion), the thalamus (which coordinates outgoing messages), the cortex (the part of the brain that is responsible for problem solving and complex thinking) and several other brain regions can all be affected.

Schizophrenia often has a genetic component, although not in all cases. Birth trauma and fetal brain damage in-utero increase the risk for Schizophrenia. Recent research also suggests that significant marijuana use may trigger the onset of Schizophrenia in youth who are at risk for the illness. Individuals who have an immediate family member with Schizophrenia should avoid using marijuana or other drugs.

Does Schizophrenia mean that you have multiple personalities?

No. People with Schizophrenia do not have multiple personalities. This error is perpetuated by errors in mainstream media and likely comes from the fact that Schizophrenia means “split brain”. “Split brain” refers to how the brain splits from reality for people with Schizophrenia, not to split personalities. Dissociative Identity Disorder is the proper diagnosis for someone with apparent multiple personalities. It is a separate and unrelated diagnosis.

 http://teenmentalhealth.org/learn/mental-disorders/schizophrenia/

ADHD

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Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by hyperactivity, inattention and impulsivity. Although many people experience these symptoms occasionally, for someone with ADHD, they are much more severe and disruptive. ADHD impacts a person’s ability to function well in many aspects of their lives, including being at home, at school or work, or with friends.

Although ADHD symptoms are usually present from an early age (and must occur prior to age 12), the disorder often is not diagnosed until someone is in school. This may be because the home environment is often less restrictive than a classroom, where hyperactive and impulsive behaviour is more disruptive and noticeable. However, children with ADHD will experience many difficulties at home or in social situations prior to beginning school.

Why does he or she sometimes seem engaged and focused?

ADHD is often less obvious in activities that require a lot of physical participation (e.g., playing sports) or that are highly enjoyed (e.g., a fun video game). Symptoms usually are most noticeable when the young person is in a group setting that requires quiet attention, or when he or she is working in a really distracting environment.

What can you do if you are concerned that someone you know might have ADHD?

1. Encourage the person to seek help (or take him or her to a trained health professional yourself, if appropriate).

2.  Ask the person a few questions to get a better sense of what is going on:

    • Do you have difficulty paying attention or sitting still?
    • Do you find it hard to remember instructions for assignments or projects?
    • Do you often lose things that you need or that are important?
    • Do you find it really easy to get distracted?
    • Do people often get frustrated with you for interrupting or not waiting your turn?
 What can you do if someone in your life is diagnosed with ADHD?

If someone in your life has been diagnosed with ADHD, here’s what you can do:

  • Be well-informed. Learn everything you can about ADHD and how it may affect the life of the person you care about. Read books, trusted websites and talk to your doctor. Check out Evidence Based Medicine for information on how to critically evaluate the information you read and Communicating With Your Health Care Provider for a list of questions to ask your health care provider.
  • Remember that someone with ADHD has difficulty paying attention or sitting still, it’s not that he or she doesn’t want to do so. This is because of differences in the way their brain works, not because he or she is trying to cause trouble. Try to limit the frequency of negative comments and avoid comments about “bad behaviour” unless it’s apparent that he or she is intentionally misbehaving. It can be really frustrating and upsetting for someone with ADHD when his or her disorder is confused with misbehaviour.
  • Try not to decrease his or her self-esteem by focusing only on problem areas. Make sure you also notice and support his or her strengths and accomplishments.
  • If you know someone who has been diagnosed with ADHD, he or she should also be assessed for learning problems as learning disabilities are more common in children with ADHD.
 What treatment options exist?

A variety of treatment options exist for ADHD. Successful treatment for ADHD improves school and work function, family and peer relationships, and decreases risk of traffic accidents and substance abuse. Determining which course of action is appropriate for each individual should be done with the guidance of a health professional who is knowledgeable about effective treatment options. Options include:

  • Medication: Medication is the most effective treatment for ADHD symptoms, as it helps the brain function the way it should. Common medications include stimulants and some types of antidepressants. For more information on how to properly use medications, check out MedEd.
  • Social Skills Training: Many children and teenagers with ADHD have social problems due to their impulsivity and hyperactivity. Social Skills Training helps them learn and practice positive ways of interacting with other people.
  • Learning Modifications/Adaptations: Often, making changes to the persons’ learning environment can be a big help. Examples include providing quieter places to work, allowing homework to be done in small amounts over an extended period of time, breaking tasks down into manageable chunks, etc.
  • Parental Behaviour Training: Children and teenagers with ADHD often benefit most from particular parenting techniques that their parents can learn how to use. Parental Behaviour Training helps parents better understand ADHD and how it impacts their child in order to parent in a way that will be most beneficial for someone with ADHD.
  • School supports: Sometimes certain adaptations can be made by the school to assist a student in coping with and managing his or her symptoms.
  • Community supports: Community supports can include peer support groups for teenagers, support groups for families, and other helpful resources.
  • For help maintaining the kind of healthy lifestyle that should accompany professional treatment, encourage your teenager or friend to check out Taking Charge of Your Health.

Remember, all treatments have the same goals: decrease symptoms and improve functioning; decrease risk of relapse; and promote recovery. Think about it this way: Get well; Stay well; Be well.

http://teenmentalhealth.org/learn/mental-disorders/adhd/

Mental Health Awareness: Impact of Mental Illness

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IMPACT OF MENTAL ILLNESS

Mental illnesses are disorders of brain function. They have many causes and result from complex interactions between a person’s genes and their environment. Having a mental illness is not a choice or moral failing. Mental illnesses occur at similar rates around the world, in every culture and in all socio-economic groups.

The statistics are staggering, 1 in 5 young people suffer from a mental illness, that’s 20 percent of our population but yet only about 4 percent of the total health care budget is spent on our mental health.

MENTAL ILLNESSES

The impact is more than in statistics and factoids, it’s in feelings and emotions. It’s in our families, with our friends and in our communities. Having a mental disorder should not be any different than experiencing a physical illness. And it doesn’t have to be; you can help make a difference.

A mental illness makes the things you do in life hard, like: work, school and socializing with other people. If you think you (or someone you know) might have a mental disorder, it is best to consult a professional as soon as possible. Early identification and effective intervention is the key to successfully treating the disorder and preventing future disability. A health care professional (doctor, mental health specialist, etc) will connect the symptoms and experiences the patient is having with recognized diagnostic criteria (DSM or ICD) to help formulate a diagnosis.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders. It is most commonly used in North America.

The ICD, part of the International Classification of Diseases produced by the World Health Organization (WHO), is another commonly-used guide, more so in Europe and other parts of the world.

These guides separate mental disorders into a number of categories. We’ve listed some of the most common mental disorders below. This list is not comprehensive, but is reflective of the most common diagnoses.

  •  Anxiety Disorders: Disturbances in brain mechanisms designed to protect you from harm
  • Mood Disorders: Disturbances in usual mood states
  • Psychotic Disorders: Disturbance of thinking perception and behaviour
  • Personality Disorders: Maladaptive personal characteristics
  • Eating Disorders: Disturbances of weight and feeding behaviour
  • Developmental Disorders: Early disturbances in usual brain development
  • Behavioural Disorders: Persistent disturbances in expected behaviours
  • Addictions: Disorders of craving
  • Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders
http://teenmentalhealth.org/learn/mental-disorders/ 

Emotional Health: Tips for Talking to a Depressed Teen

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Tips for Talking to a Depressed Teen

Offer support

Let depressed teenagers know that you’re there for them, fully and unconditionally. Hold back from asking a lot of questions (teenagers don’t like to feel patronized or crowded), but make it clear that you’re ready and willing to provide whatever support they need.

Be gentle but persistent

Don’t give up if your adolescent shuts you out at first. Talking about depression can be very tough for teens. Be respectful of your child’s comfort level while still emphasizing your concern and willingness to listen.

Listen without lecturing

Resist any urge to criticize or pass judgment once your teenager begins to talk. The important thing is that your child is communicating. Avoid offering unsolicited advice or ultimatums as well.

Validate feelings

Don’t try to talk your teen out of his or her depression, even if his or her feelings or concerns appear silly or irrational to you. Simply acknowledge the pain and sadness he or she is feeling. If you don’t, he or she will feel like you don’t take his or her emotions seriously.

http://www.helpguide.org/articles/depression/teen-depression-signs-help.htm

Emotional Wellness: Music and Mood

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Music and Mood

Music’s beneficial effects on mental health have been known for thousands of years. Ancient philosophers from Plato to Confucius and the kings of Israel sang the praises of music and used it to help soothe stress. Military bands use music to build confidence and courage. Sporting events provide music to rouse enthusiasm. Schoolchildren use music to memorize their ABCs. Shopping malls play music to entice consumers and keep them in the store. Dentists play music to help calm nervous patients. Modern research supports conventional wisdom that music benefits mood and confidence.

Because of our unique experiences, we develop different musical tastes and preferences. Despite these differences, there are some common responses to music. Babies love lullabies. Maternal singing is particularly soothing, regardless of a mom’s formal musical talents or training. Certain kinds of music make almost everyone feel worse, even when someone says she enjoys it; in a study of 144 adults and teenagers who listened to 4 different kinds of music, grunge music led to significant increases in hostility, sadness, tension, and fatigue across the entire group, even in the teenagers who said they liked it. In another study, college students reported that pop, rock, oldies, and classical music helped them feel happier and more optimistic, friendly, relaxed, and calm.

Music, Attention, and Learning

Everyone who has learned their ABCs knows that it is easier to memorize a list if it is set to music. Scientific research supports common experience that pairing music with rhythm and pitch enhances learning and recall. Music helps children and adolescents with attention problems in several ways. First, it can be used as a reward for desired behavior. For example, for paying attention to homework for 10 minutes, a child can be rewarded with the opportunity to listen to music for 5 minutes. Second, it can be used to help enhance attention to “boring” academic tasks such as memorization, using songs, rhythms, and dance or movement to enhance the interest of the lists to be memorized. Instrumental baroque music is great for improving attention and reasoning. For students, playing background music is not distracting. Third, musical cues can be used to help organize activities – one kind of music for one activity (studying), another for a different activity (eating), and a third kind for heading to bed. Fourth, studies show that calming music can promote pro-social behavior and decrease impulsive behavior.

Music and Anxiety

Many people find familiar music comforting and calming. In fact, music is so effective in reducing anxiety, it is often used in dental, preoperative, and radiation therapy settings to help patients cope with their worries about procedures. Music helps decrease anxiety in the elderly, new mothers, and children too. Music’s ability to banish worries is illustrated in the Rogers and Hammerstein lyrics,

“Whenever I feel afraid, I hold my head erect
And whistle a happy tune, so no one will suspect I’m afraid…
And every single time,
the happiness in the tune convinces me that I’m not afraid.”

Any kind of relaxing, calming music can contribute to calmer moods. Calming music can be combined with cognitive therapy to lower anxiety even more effectively than conventional therapy alone.

Some studies suggest that specially designed music, such as music that includes tones that intentionally induce binaural beats to put brain waves into relaxed delta or theta rhythms, can help improve symptoms in anxious patients even more than music without these tones; listening to this music without other distractions (not while driving, cooking, talking, or reading) promotes the best benefits.

Music and Moods

An analysis of 5 studies on music for depression concluded that music therapy is not only acceptable for depressed patients, but it actually helps improve their moods. Music has proven useful in helping patients with serious medical illnesses such as cancer, burns, and multiple sclerosis who are also depressed. If it can help in these situations, it may be able to help you and your loved ones experience more positive moods.

Music and Sleep

Many people listen to soothing music to help them fall asleep. This practice is supported by studies in a variety of settings. Just don’t try listening to lively dance music or rousing marches before you aim to fall asleep. Conversely, if you’re trying to wake up in the morning, go for the fast-tempo music rather than lullabies.

Music and Stress

Since ancient times, it has been known that certain kinds of music can help soothe away stress. Calming background music can significantly decrease irritability and promote calm in elderly nursing home patients with dementia. Music, widely chosen, lowers stress hormone levels. On the other hand, every parent of a teenager knows that certain kinds of music, particularly at high volumes, can induce stress. Knowing that certain kinds of music can alleviate stress is one thing; being mindful in choosing what kind of music to listen to is another. Choose your musical intake as carefully as you choose your food and friends.

Last Updated  8/20/2015
Source
Mental Health, Naturally: The Family Guide to Holistic Care for a Healthy Mind and Body (Copyright © 2010 American Academy of Pediatrics)

The information contained on this Web site should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/emotional-wellness/Pages/Music-and-Mood.aspx