Music is a form of art that allows people to express themselves in many different ways. It is a combination of vocal and instrumental sounds that produce a beautiful harmony or expression of emotion. Music can be used as a form of entertainment, or it can be used as a coping mechanism for moods, emotional health, and many other things. Research on the effects of music therapy has been on the rise, and many have found that the psychological effects of music are wide-ranging. Here are some of the ways music can affect you.
- It Reduces Stress
The idea that music can reduce stress has been supported by a lot of research. There is a trend that meditative music was created in order to soothe the mind and incite relaxation. Music also offers a sense of emotional regulation, for the kind of music you listen to can help bring out or calm the emotions you are unable to regulate on your own. One study found that music listening had an impact on the psychobiological stress system. The study utilized 6 healthy female volunteers who were subjected to a standardized psychosocial stress test after they were randomly assigned a condition prior to the test. The conditions were relaxing music, the sound of rippling water, and rest without music. It was concluded that cortisol levels were lowered faster with those who listened to the relaxing music as opposed to the other conditions. A separate study showed that music listening and stress recovery was reviewed. Actually, there are many studies that support the idea that music can help lower stress or cortisol levels.
For example, studies show that there was a rapid decrease in the post-stressor cortisol for those who listened to classical music, as opposed to those who sat in silence. High frequency music was found to have a greater effect on reducing cortisol levels, and it increases oxytocin levels. Oxytocin is a modulator of stress response. You can listen to music at any time, especially when you have a busy day ahead. Try listening to some classical music or calming music in order to calm your mind and reduce stress levels.
- It Can Help Manage Pain
Research has shown that music can be very helpful when it comes to managing pain. In one particular study, fibromyalgia patients were evaluated on how music affected their pain. Fibromyalgia is a syndrome characterized by chronic widespread myofascial and many other symptoms. The music selected for the study was a mix of classical and salsa music. The patients selected for the study were given a CD that they could listen to for an hour at least 4 days a week. The results of the study showed that listening to music had a significant effect on the pain management of those with fibromyalgia. Listening to music at least 30 minutes a day was shown to help assist in the control of pain in people diagnosed with fibromyalgia. In another study, it was found that music can be utilized as a nursing intervention to decrease pain and even depressive symptoms. You can listen to happy music to increase your pain control, or you can opt for classical or relaxing music to reduce your anxiety and pain.
- It Can Help You Sleep Better
Insomnia is something that affects a lot of people. Listening to calming music before bed can act as a remedy for those sleepless nights.
Getting a good night’s rest is important for the overall health and wellbeing of humans all over the world. Listening to music before bed can also help you fall asleep faster, and it help improve the quality of sleep. The effects of relaxing music on sleep were analyzed. It was found that listening to music before sleep can improve the subjective quality of sleep.
In a separate study, it was found that listening to soothing music before bed can be used as an empirically based intervention for sleep in older people. Listening to slower or relaxing music, around 60-80 beats per minute, may be beneficial for those who enjoy listening to music before bed.
- It Can Improve Cognitive Performance
Listening to background music while studying or getting work done has been shown to help improve your cognitive performance. One particular study found that listening to music had a positive effect on older adults’ emotional states and cognitive abilities. There is also the idea that listening to music composed by Mozart may increase cognitive performance. This can be referred to as the Mozart effect. In a different study, it was found that listening to music by Mozart can be shown to improve spatial temporal reasoning and improved IQ tests. You can try listening to instrumental music, for music with lyrics may be more distracting if you are trying to complete a specific task.
- It Can Help Reduce Symptoms of Depression
Music has been a new and emerging form of therapy, especially for those who struggle with anxiety and depression.
There have been many studies about the therapeutic qualities of music and its ability to reduce depression in those who struggle with neurological conditions. A meta-analysis of randomized control trials showed the different effects of music therapy and music medicine on people who had depression. It was concluded that this meta-analysis, completed by Qishou Tang, provided evidence that would allow clinicians and physicians to add music therapy to their therapeutic design to reduce depression. It was found that music therapy may be helpful in modulating moods and emotions. The findings of another meta-analysis indicated that music therapy can provide short-term beneficial effects for those who struggle with depression. It would be beneficial to listen to classical music or meditation music.
- It Can Improve Endurance and Performance in Exercise
Everyone enjoys listening to music to get them through their workout. Runners who listen to music while they run may be able to run faster and even build more endurance depending on the tempo of the music. Research has shown that music could increase one’s step frequency, which allows them to run or walk faster. In a study, it was found that those who listened to a beat provided by a metronome were able to keep that steady step frequency once it was replaced with a white noise. An ideal music tempo for workouts would be around 125 and 140 beats per minute. Another study found that music can be used as an ergogenic intervention, and it acts as a practical means to improve exercise performance. Listening to your favorite upbeat playlist during your workouts can have a great effect on your performance during the workout.
- It Can Help Increase Your Motivation
Listening to your favorite song can help you feel a sense of motivation and focus. Music can also make it easier for you to exercise because it allows you to push through those tough workouts. In a study done by James Waterhouse, there were 12 cyclists who were given a playlist of 6 different songs with different tempos. It was found that the songs with a faster tempo helped to increase the performance of the cyclists, in terms of distance traveled on the bike. In another study, it was found that motivation by music can lead to increase in exercise duration. Listening to fast-paced music can help motivate you to get through vigorous workouts.
- It Can Help Improve Your Memory
A lot of students enjoy listening to music while they study or do homework. In a study, the effects of background music during certain cognitive tasks and memorization were tested in older adults. The researchers involved in this study gave participants a task of reading and recalling a list of words. The study found that those who listened to classical music during this task outperformed those who did not listen to music at all and those who listened to white noise. Music itself can also hold a lot of memories for people, and music memory is beneficial for those who may experience Alzheimer’s. Music has also been found to slow cognitive decline and to help those who have moderate or mild dementia remember certain instances in their lives. In another study, it was found that music therapy can be a non-pharmacological intervention with the potential effects to reduce cognitive decline. Try listening to classical music while you study or complete tasks that require you to recall information.
