How does music affect the human body?

The good news: A new survey of the research on music and healing was recently published by Myskja and Lindbaek at the University of Oslo. The bad news: it's in Norwegian. But the English abstract is available in PubMed. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen 2000 Apr 10;120(10):1186-90 draws tentative conclusions about music's efficacy for treating anxiety and depression, and improving function in schizophrenia and autism; its utility for pain, reducing the need for medication aqnd helping during uncomfortable diagnostic procedures; its usefulness as a support tool during pregnancy and gestation, in internal medicine, oncology, paediatrics and other related fields; with geriatric patients, alleviating symptoms in stroke rehabilitation, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia; and its supportive role in palliative medicine and terminal care.

The article concludes that music as a therapeutic agent, and music with guided imagery, is well tolerated, inexpensive, and delivers good compliance with few side effects.