Did you know that listening to music can improve your brain health, physical health, and mental health? Dr. Deborah Mridha said, “music can heal wounds medicine cannot touch. I do not propose medicine is not an answer for some. I propose music may be therapy we have at our fingertips that heals us through mind, body, and spirit.”
Sleeplessness, anxiety, depression, and other mental distress have heightened since the beginning of the pandemic. Music may help us clear our minds and divert our attention from thoughts, improving our mood. The thought is that when the music hits our brains it creates a shift in mood, clearing our minds, and often reducing trauma. Studies have found that listening to music can help calm your nervous system and lower cortisol levels, both of which can help reduce stress. It is not a magical intervention, but an agent of change to help boost our overall mood and mental well-being, even if for a moment.
Music and Mental Health Benefits
- Music creates pleasure by decreasing cortisol production which induces stress levels. When listening to music, reward and motivation chemicals are released, creating a pleasure response.
- Music works to calm your nervous system and can ease stress When one is feeling anxiety, listening to slow-tempo music is recommended as it can bring you down from a heightened state. The brain will react by releasing pleasure chemicals so that the body can respond by slowing down.
- Music is an emotional release allowing for the expression of emotions and energy.
- Music grounds you in the present moment-Stress can often be about rumination about the past, or worrying about the future. Either or a combination can oftentimes give us the feeling of having no control.Moving to music whether singing, dancing, clapping, or just swaying to the beat can give a sense of being grounded in the present, giving back a sense of control. Being back in the present is where our bodies reside and we can recognize we have control of our bodies, grounding us.
Music distracts from stressors-Grounding in the present can help us overcome anxiety about the past and future, but if stress is happening in the here and now it still may not feel good. Our brains are so complex that listening to our favorite music can distract or divert us from competing internal or external stress stimuli. Our pleasure signals kick in and focuses on the music oftentimes eliminating other competing factors. The music we are listening to can override more stress-provoking stimuli.
- Music can bring out our Creativity -Stress can disengage our creative side putting us in reactive mode to fight or flight. Creating music allows the nervous system to reset to “rest and digest mode.”
- Music enhances Connection -Isolation and loneliness have been a cause of stress over the past few years. Creating and listening to music can help some of the loneliness-induced anxiety.
Listening to music can be so much more than an enjoyable experience. Next time you listen to your favorite song, remember that you’re doing a great service to your body, mind, and soul.
“When we play music alone, we connect to the music. When we play music with others, we connect to them by proxy. One voice, one melody, one rhythm, all connected in the present moment,” 7 Ways Music Can Reduce Stress and Anxiety, (2021).
