Music provides healing grace note for hospital patients

Hospitals around the country are using music as a way to ease patients' pain, lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety and depression and improve coping abilities to get patients well, faster. A 2007 survey by the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, along with the Joint Commission and Americans for the Arts, found that of the 1,923 healthcare facilities surveyed, 35% offered some type of music to patients. Besides promoting relaxation and reducing stress, music therapy has been shown to affect sleep patterns, improve stroke patients' memories and decrease the amount of sedation medication needed for some patients.