From time immemorial, music has been part of human existence and has been used for years as a form of entertainment, communication, celebration, and even mourning. Listening to music is an activity enjoyed by most people who can’t live without it. In as much as listening to music is often regarded as a hobby, music has some several mental benefits in addition to being a source of pleasure and contentment. Music is a powerful tool, and listening to it comes with a myriad of psychological benefits. Whether you’re depressed, stressed, or even anxious, relaxing Jazz by Jazz pianists can alleviate negative thoughts or feelings and improve your mood. Below are some of the benefits of listening to music.
- Improve Cognitive Abilities.
Physiological studies have shown that music significantly improves our cognitive performance by enhancing our brain function. Research has shown that playing upbeat music in the background while the listener is focused on other activities enhances their brain processing speed and consequently improves their performance in that particular activity. Music improves the brain function for all ages, including kids or adults. So, the next time you are undertaking boring activities or tasks, you may want to turn on some upbeat or downbeat background music and significantly improve your cognitive abilities as well as performance in that particular task.
- Alleviates Depression
Regardless of how emotionally strong you may be, coping with depression is quite challenging, especially if you lack a person you trust to share your feelings with. Nonetheless, music can be a great tool to combat the feelings of failure and inadequacy that comes with depression. According to a research published on Medical Daily, music therapy has been established to be an efficient, cost-effective form of depression management, especially in children and teens. Music also improves interpersonal skills and self-esteem in adults. However, it is essential to note that sad music is not ideal to combat depression as it can actually make you feel more depressed than before. It’s, therefore, best that you listen to encouraging and uplifting music.
- Manages Anxiety
Anxiety comes in different forms ranging from mild version, which causes some minor disturbances to chronic cases, which is challenging to put up. A 2015 research published in The Arts in Psychotherapy concluded that patients with a generalized anxiety disorder were found to respond positively to music therapy. This is because when listening to music, the levels of cortisol in our bodies is lowered dramatically with a decrease in heart rate, blood pressure, as well as stress levels. The overall effect of listening to music is that it creates a more relaxed environment enabling you to feel much better in the phase of anxiety. Making music is also enhances the feeling of satisfaction and pride in something you have created. In essence, spending time listening to smooth chilled music alleviates both general and social anxiety, making you feel much calmer, less anxious, and more comfortable with yourself.
- Reduce or Manage Stress.
Music can reduce or manage stress and help you feel much better. Meditative music, for instance, soothes the mind and induces relaxation. A research conducted in 2013 confirmed that listening to music positively impacts human stress response by significantly lowering a stress hormone known as cortisol. The effect of listening to music while stressed is that you recover more quickly from the stressor, and you can think in a straight manner.
- Music Improves Memory.
While students have a diverse opinion on listening to music while studying, most feel like listening to their favorite music while studying significantly enhances their memory. Some feel like listening to music while studying serves as pleasant destruction. Nonetheless, research has shown that listening to music substantially improves our memory power but depends on several factors such as the type of music, listener’s perception of the music as well as how musically well-trained the listener may be. Therefore, music enhances memory but varies depending on an individual.
- Music Improves Sleep.
Insomnia or lack of sleep has become a growing problem affecting all age groups. There are numerous ways of improving sleep, and one such practical approach is to listen to relaxing classical music when wanting to sleep. A study where participants listened to classical music, an audiobook and nothing at all established that those who listened to relaxing classical music were found to have better sleep quality as compared to the other study participants. Music is a safe, effective, and affordable therapy for insomniacs and significantly improves their sleep quality.
To conclude, soft, steady, and relaxing music rhythms are great for most mental conditions and also reduces our stress levels, relieves anxiety, and generally boost our moods. So, next time you feel emotionally down, depressed, anxious, or you even want to improve your memory, you may want to play your favorite music and gain some encouragement and focus.
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
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