关键词: 音乐, 免疫, 心理神经免疫学

Abstract: Research into the health benefits of music has rapidly expanded over the last decades in an attempt to understand how music can be better applied in community, educational and, in particular, healthcare settings. Music has been shown to be able to elicit strong emotional and psychological reactions in humans, and thus it is often used to regulate mood and arousal in everyday life and to promote physical and psychological health in clinical settings. However, scientific inquiry into the effects of music on human immunity is still in its infancy. Recent psychoneuroimmunology research has given increasing attention to the relationship between immune systems and psychological processes aroused by music. We review how music improves health and well-being through the engagement of neurochemical systems for reward, motivation and pleasure, stress and arousal, and immunity. Stress has a wide variety of detrimental effects on immune systems, leading to a weakening of defenses against pathogens and an increase in systemic inflammation. The potential therapeutic effects of music have been largely attributed to its ability to reduce stress and modulate arousal levels. It is known that stimulating music could increase plasma cortisol, adrenocorticotropic hormone, prolactin, growth hormone, and norepinephrine levels. Recreational music counteracts the immune modulation that normally occur due to stress and aging. In general, music can boost the innate or non-specific immune system and has anti-inflammatory properties. Music-based treatments or interventions are inexpensive, and convenient and noninvasive with minimal or no side effects. However, these results are still preliminary and the effects of extraneous variables need to be controlled for in future studies. Nevertheless, the findings presented here are encouraging, and should provide impetus for further research in the use of music in minimizing the strain placed on the immune system. In addition, previous studies have also provided important insights into the mechanisms underlying the perception and processing of music, exploring the psychological process and cognitive neuroscience of music. This includes the neurological basis for music in inducing emotions, such as the neurobiology of certain aspects of music such as harmony and the neuroanatomy of music performance. The breadth of study has ranged from the perception of folksongs inside the womb to the performance of opera on concert platforms and the use of popular music in operating theatres. Music can also influence brains and bodies in different ways: aurally, via direct auditory perception; physically, via muscle movements and sensory experience of vibrations; socially, as musical activities can bring with them additional social experiences such as increases in confidence, social participation, self-esteem. Music will be appreciated differently by different individuals, depending to a large extent on their preference, familiarity with the style, and particular emotional connection. In future research, we should pay attention to the following aspects: (1) to clarify the role of the physiological and psychological role of music in human’s immune system; (2) pay attention to the causal research paradigm and try to avoid the use of biomarker as alternatives; and (3) to ascertain the relevant terms of psychoneuroimmunological effects of music and to establish a new research paradigm in this research area.

Key words: Music, Immunity, Psychoneuroimmunology