by How does listening to music affect our mood and stress? Research shows that music has a powerful effect on how we feel, on our memories, even on how we perceive the world around us. This article explains the effects of music on our mental health and gives you some tips to use it in your everyday life if you suffer from stress or anxiety.
Music Helps Us Maintain Good Memory
Listening to music has a positive effect on our mind. It helps us boost our memory and it also helps with creating new memories. Music has been proven as therapy for patients with neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, amnesia, etc. It can also help reduce pain for children who undergo chemotherapy for cancer treatment and reduce depression in children and elderly people who suffer from dementia. There are many health benefits of listening to music that makes it one of your important routine in your daily life. Make sure that you don’t put off listening to your favorite songs while commuting or while doing something else around the house. Keep up with your favorite tunes no matter what!
Music is a Powerful Tool to Fight Stress
There is no denying that stress is damaging to us in so many ways. It can be responsible for lowering our immunity, affecting sleep, and making us more susceptible to mental illness. But it doesn’t need to be that way if we take control over how we deal with stress and learn how to use powerful tools like music. Music has been shown in research studies to positively affect moods, relieve stress, and improve cognitive performance among patients suffering from brain injuries, depression, or anxiety disorders.
Relieves Anxiety
Music therapy is a kind of counseling that uses music as its primary mode of treatment. Music has been found to reduce anxiety and help patients cope with pain, illness, depression, and other mental and physical issues. In addition, music can improve your mood, energize you, boost your creativity and enhance your cognitive performance. These are all factors that can contribute to better mental health in general. The effects that music has on our minds go much deeper than we may realize; many would agree that there is definitely something therapeutic about a good song.
It Reduces Depression
Listening to and playing music both provide a variety of mood-boosting effects. The way in which they do so, however, is a bit different. Singing and playing instruments seem to be better at producing feel-good endorphins than simply listening to your favorite songs, so keep your guitar handy if you’re feeling blue. Music may even help reduce depression.
Music Improves Our Mood
Listening to your favorite music, especially in times of great happiness or sadness can change our brain chemistry. Listening to happy and sad songs changes our emotional response. In other words, we feel happier or sadder depending on what song we are listening to. So, remember that sometimes instead of popping pills take a deep breath and listen to a song and you will experience an instant mood boost.
Listen To Music Before Going To Sleep
Let’s face it, we all want a great night’s sleep, but more often than not, we’re left waking up groggy and exhausted in a pool of our own drool. Maybe it’s time to reconsider your pre-sleep routine. While most people will claim that listening to white noise or calming rain sounds makes for a better night’s sleep, according to Time, those aren’t exactly calming sounds – and in fact, can cause even more anxiety or excitement. The best way to ensure a good night’s rest is by putting on some slow classical music like Beethoven or Mozart before heading off into la-la land. Because let’s be honest: nothing soothes us better than beautiful classical tunes.
Music can improve endurance as well as performance
A 2012 study showed that runners who listened to a single 45-minute song as they ran experienced a 15% increase in endurance and performance. As reported by NPR, Ohio State University psychology professor Jacob Jolij believes that the right tune can be almost like an elixir. He was surprised by how much more subjects could run after listening to their preferred songs. It’s not hard to see why athletes love music so much — it’s just another form of motivation for them. Music also helps us forget about fatigue and physical pain. When you’re exercising, you naturally experience some discomfort; however, studies suggest that taking your mind off those aches and pains may allow athletes in all kinds of sports to take their training further than they normally would.
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