At the University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio, cancer patients can ask for an unusual medicine: Could a guitar player come and play a tune by their bedside, like the Beatles’ “Let it Be”?

“We have empirical evidence that shows music can help reduce a person’s pain perception,” says Seneca Block, director of Expressive Therapies at University Hospitals Connor Whole Health. On average, Block’s studies have shown that music can reduce pain perception by 20 percent. He emphasizes that music therapy is not meant to replace pain medication, but pharmacology and music can work hand in hand. “We’re here to make the person’s experience better,” he says.

The music therapy program at the University Hospitals has been running for over 25 years, making it one of the oldest such programs in the nation. It has consistently proven to reduce stress, anxiety and pain.

“Music therapy is one of the most important supportive therapies we have,” says Block’s colleague, psychiatrist Syed Amir Shah, at the University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. “Music therapy has shown to hit areas of the brain that deal with cognition, emotion, and it has truly helped our patients.”

A recent meta-analysis by California Northstate University revealed that listening to music lowered patients’ pain levels after surgery and accelerated their recovery. These patients needed less than half the amount of morphine compared to those who didn’t listen to music. Additionally, their heart rates stayed in a healthier range, suggesting a profound physiological effect. “When patients wake up after surgery, sometimes they feel really scared and don’t know where they are,” said Eldo Frezza, senior author of the study and a surgery professor at California Northstate University College of Medicine. “Music can help ease the transition from the waking up stage to a return to normalcy and may help reduce stress around that transition.”