by Nadia Ramoutar MMM Communications Coordinator                    Ireland                               28. 06. 2025

Recently, I have had the pleasure of working with the MMM Sisters to record a new song praising the gifts given by founder Mother Mary Martin.  It’s a beautiful song written by MMM Sr Jacinta.  She is very talented in writing and also in singing.  It was great fun to gather an audience and film the choir performing.  When I was directing this music video something occurred to me about the power of music, not just for those performing it but also for those listening to it.  So I decided to do a little research on this.  What I find confirmed to me that music is not just pleasant, it is important to our wellbeing. 

The relationship between music and the brain is fascinating and we really don’t know enough about it yet.  But it is clear that music helps the brain to organise and operate at higher function.  If we think of it this way, music serves like exercise for our brain. 

Music also offers us significant value in reducing our stress levels and expressing emotion in a healthy way.  It also serves to alter our emotional state in positive ways. 

My oldest son, Devin, is studying to get his Masters degree in Music Therapy.  Because of this I have learned a lot about how music can help with not just recovery but also during surgeries.  Music can reduce stress considerably and several experiments and medical trials show the positive impact.  Unfortunately, music therapy is not used nearly as much as it can to benefit people.  More research is just coming out now. 

The Harvard Health news reported that a study done in New York on cataract patients showed impressive results.  The listeners also reported that they felt calmer and better during the operation.  Earlier research, though, found that surgeons showed fewer signs of stress and demonstrated improved performance while listening to self-selected music.  So it benefitted both the patient and the surgeon. 

Music can add so much to our daily life but what will also really bring us benefits is dancing to the music.  It has been shown that of all exercise methods, dancing benefits the brain greatly and not just the body.  You can see that adding a little bit of music to your daily life routine could bring many significant health and psychological benefits. 

Life can be stressful and listening to bad news all the time can have a negative impact on us at several levels.  Making space and time in our life to include music and movement is a wonderful investment in our wellbeing.  It is worth the effort and consistency over time will bring us major benefits.