“If I could go back in time, I would make it a habit to read poetry and listen to music at least once a week,” Charles Darwin once said. Albert Einstein once quipped, “If I weren’t a physicist, I’d undoubtedly be a musician.” Jimi Hendrix’s “religion” was music.
Isn’t it amazing how some songs can bring back memories or make you feel happy, relaxed, or energized? The ability to discern between music and background noise is something that everyone is born with.
Pitch, melody, rhythm, and tempo are all processed differently by distinct pathways in our brains. Slower music has the opposite effect on your heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure, whilst faster music has the opposite effect.
While the specific effects of music on humans are unknown, studies have shown that listening to music you appreciate causes your brain to release dopamine, a neurotransmitter that has a positive effect on your mood. Music has the power to elicit strong emotions in us, such as joy, grief, or fear, and many people agree that it may move us.
According to certain research, music has the capacity to improve our health and well-being. Several studies demonstrate that listening to music has the following benefits, while more research is needed to confirm the possible health benefits of music.
Music makes us happier
"I sing not because I'm happy; I sing because I'm happy." — William James
According to research, listening to music you enjoy causes your brain to release dopamine, a “feel-good” neurotransmitter. After listening to their favorite music, Valorie Salimpoor, a neuroscientist at McGill University, injected eight music lovers with a radioactive chemical that attaches to dopamine receptors.
A PET scan revealed that a substantial amount of dopamine was released, causing the subjects to experience sensations such as happiness, enthusiasm, and joy.
Music helps to run faster
"If someone takes anything away from my music, it should be the knowledge that anything is possible if you keep working hard and don't give up." — Eminem
Runners who listened to rapid or slow motivational music completed the first 800 metres of their run faster than runners who listened to calm music or ran without music, according to Marcelo Bigliassi and his colleagues. Thus, listen to tunes that encourage you if you want to improve your jogging.
Music is a stress reliever and a health enhancer
"I believe that music is therapeutic in and of itself. It's a powerful manifestation of humanity. It's something that affects us all. "It doesn't matter what culture we come from." — Billy Joel
Listening to music you like lowers your body’s levels of the stress hormone cortisolin, counteracting the consequences of prolonged stress. This is significant because stress is responsible for 60% of all illnesses and diseases.
People’s immune systems were stimulated even more when they actively participated in generating music by playing various percussion instruments and singing, according to one study, than when they simply listened.
Music Makes It Easier to Sleep
"The dust of ordinary living is washed away from the soul by music." — Berthold Auerbach, Berthold Auerbach, Berthold Auerbach, Bert
Insomnia affects more than 30% of Americans. According to a study, students who listened to soothing classical music for 45 minutes before bedtime slept substantially better than those who listened to an audio book or did nothing out of the ordinary.
Music can help you feel better
"Music was my safe haven. I could slink into the gap between the notes and cuddle up in solitude." — Maya Angelou is a poet, author, and activist.
Around the world, more than 350 million people suffer from depression. Ninety percent of them also suffer from sleeplessness. In the sleep study mentioned above, the group that listened to classical music before bedtime experienced a significant reduction in depressive symptoms, whereas the other two groups did not.
Another study conducted by Hans Joachim Trappe in Germany found that, depending on the style of music, music can help individuals with depression symptoms. People were raised by meditative sounds and classical music, but they were knocked down much more by techno and heavy metal.
Learning and memory are aided by music
"Music is the memory's language." — Jodi Picoult is a novelist who has written a number of books.
Music can help you remember and retain knowledge better, according to researchers, but it depends on how much you like the music and whether or not you’re a musician. Subjects memorized Japanese kanji while listening to music that they perceived as either good or neutral.
Participants who were musicians learnt better with neutral music but tested better when pleasant music was playing, according to the findings. Non-musicians, on the other hand, learnt more effectively with positive music but performed better on tests with neutral music.
Music helps reduce pain
"One good thing about music is that you don't feel any pain when it hits you." — Bob Marely is a writer.
Music therapy and pre-recorded music were found to relieve pain in cancer patients more effectively than usual therapies, according to research conducted at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Other studies have found that music can help patients in critical care and geriatric care feel better, but that the music must be classical, meditative, or songs chosen by the patient. Bob Marely was correct on this one: listen to music you enjoy to alleviate your pain.
Music can help you improve your verbal intelligence
"What words are to the mind, music is to the soul." — Modest Mouse
A study at York University found that 90 percent of children aged 4 to 6 exhibited a significant gain in verbal intelligence after only one month of music instruction (in rhythm, pitch, melody, and voice).
According to researcher Sylvain Moreno, music training had a “transfer effect,” which improved the children’s capacity to interpret and explain language. On verbal memory tests, musically trained adult women and musically trained toddlers outperformed those who had not had music training, according to other research.
Music reduces fatigue
Anyone who has ever pulled down their car windows and cranked up the radio knows how stimulating music can be. That personal experience is backed up by science. Relaxing music helped reduce fatigue and sustain muscle endurance when people were engaged in a repetitive exercise, according to researchers at Shanghai University in 2015.
Music therapy sessions significantly reduced fatigue in cancer patients and enhanced the fatigue threshold in persons doing strenuous neuromuscular training, which leads to the next major advantage.
Humans are influenced by music in tremendous ways. It can help you increase your memory, task endurance, mood, reduce anxiety and depression, stave off fatigue, improve your pain response, and work out more successfully.
Working with a music therapist is one of the most effective ways to reap the many health advantages that music can provide for your body, mind, and overall well-being.
Also read:
How to Be Calm in A Stressful Situation
Effects of Tv/Web series on the viewer’s state of mind
