Music for Your Health

There isn’t a whole lot of ideas on which the entire world holds a similar opinion, and yet when it comes to the power of music, you’ll find the entire mankind to be on the same page. The power and benefits of music have been a prominent topic for research in recent decades and there is plenty of research that supports the claim that music can indeed help a great deal in the overall well-being of an individual.

There are plenty of benefits associated with listening to music. It is likely that you are already familiar with the aforementioned statement. But what exactly are those benefits? If you are in search of this information, then congratulations for landing on the right page. We have highlighted 7 of the top psychological benefits that you can extract out of your habit of listening to your favorite music. Rest assured, these benefits are more than powerful to have a positive impact on your personal and professional life. So, why wait any longer? Let’s take a closer look at what other than pure entertainment is it that music has to offer.

 

1. The Silver Lining For Your Mental Health

Did you know that music therapy has been accepted as an effective strategy for the patients to cope with a wide range of mental illnesses including anxiety, depression, Parkinson’s, stroke, etc? What’s even more amazing is that the research has shown no side effects to be associated with music therapy. In the world of psychology, therefore, music therapy has made its mark to be one of the safest options to address the challenges presented by common mental disorders. In order to use music for a component of treatment, however, the type is of prime importance. For instance, meditation soundtracks or classical music has been found to be the most effective when it comes to exploiting its potential for optimizing mental health.

 

2. An Instant Upgrade For Your Mood

Remember the time when you were feeling down and nothing seem to have an impact in uplifting your mood? But then you played your favorite soundtrack and it worked like a charm. Such is the power of music in terms of enhancing your mood. Listening to your favorite music has been scientifically associated with the stimulation of the happy hormones including endorphins, serotonin, adrenaline, etc. With an increase in the concentration of such hormones, it is only a matter of minutes before your favorite music starts to make you feel better. But that is not all, you can also use music to summon a few of your other emotions as well. For instance, why do you think the fast-paced soundtracks are usually being played in the gym? It is because such tracks are known to boost inspiration and motivation enabling people to get the most out of their bodies while working out. Similarly, romantic music can also be used to invoke arousal which is why it is a common practice for people to play such music in the background during their intimate moments with their partners.

 

3. Time To Say Goodbye To The Insomnia

Owing to the high-stress environment of today, be it in terms of personal life or professional life, sleep deprivation to the extent of insomnia is a common experience for the majority of us. If you have been finding it hard to fall asleep at night as the disturbing and troubling thoughts keep popping into your mind, it is perhaps time for you to give music a try in curing the problem for you. As per the research, listening to classical, soothing music as you lay in your bed is highly effective in inducing peaceful sleep. Such a remedy for insomnia is also acceptable as it is completely safe and as cost-effective as it ever gets. It is kind of a given that you already own a smartphone with a pair of ear pods or speakers. That’s pretty much all the investment you need to get your sleep under your control as you always wished.

 

4. A Non-Pharmaceutical Pain Killer

Well, it just keeps getting better. Psychological research has also shown that [restrict] listening peaceful soundtracks can be highly effective in the management of pain and acting as a non-pharmaceutical pain killer. The primary reason is that our brain is hardwired to submit to the power of music. It is only a matter of time before it entirely consumes you and takes your focus away from the pain spots. The effect of music for pain management is so strong that it has been scientifically proven that listening to the soothing music before surgery can help a great deal in improving the outcome in terms of minimizing the pain before, during, or after the surgery. No, it’s not just theoretical. Surgeons from all over the world are actually starting to use this strategy specifically for people who wish to keep the medication at a bare minimum.

 

5. The Wonder Drug For Performance

Don’t you miss the time when you used to be highly creative and there wasn’t an earthly force that could perish your productivity throughout the day? If you would like to relive those days, it is time for you to summon the power of music. As per the research done by psychologists, music has the potential to activate the creativity and productivity centers of your brain and give a little boost to your overall performance for any given task.

A word caution, again, though. It is entirely dependent on the kind of music that you are playing and how distracting it is. If it is one of those songs that you are just going to sing along, it is likely that you will lose your focus from the task at hand. Any kind of music, for that matter, that has the potential to distract you is absolutely not going to work for the aforementioned purpose. To induce creativity and productivity, you must make sure that the music chosen is peaceful and soothing for the ears and the brain.

 

6. A Boost To Your Weight Loss Goals

Let’s be honest. Thus far, you were sold about the psychological benefit of the music as soon as you read the heading. But this one sounds bizarre, doesn’t it? How can music possibly help you achieve your weight loss goals? Here’s the thing, the research has shown that calm and peaceful music can help you a great deal in eating less throughout the day. Wondering how is that possible? We have the answer for you.

Listening to such music is effective in activating the natural relaxation response of the body. Once the body starts to feel more relaxed and comfortable, the digestion of the food that you have already consumed begins to slow down. With slower digestion, you are likely to not feel hungry again for a longer period of time than usual. There you have it. All you are doing is listening to the peaceful soundtracks and if you dig deeper, it is actually supporting your weight loss goals in the long run.

 

7. Let’s Not Forget Entertainment

Lastly, of course, as all of us are already familiar, the entertainment value associated with listening to music is unquestionable. Remember that entertainment is an imperative aspect for your brain to function optimally. If you think about your childhood, your mother used to let you go out to play with your friends once you had studied for a couple of hours. You always took it as a reward, but it was indeed, more than that. Going out with your friends was a matter of entertainment that has a direct impact on widening the learning capacity of the brain. You can think of entertainment as brain food. Once it has been fed well, it is all set to focus better and offer sharper memory. Now that you are an adult and don’t always have time to hang out with your friends, music can serve the same purpose of feeding your brain with entertainment.

 

Final Note

Truth is, music is surely a favorite topic for a lot of us which is why we are sure that this would have been an interesting read for you. There aren’t too many instances in life when you find out that something that you actually love to do on a daily basis has major psychological benefits which play a crucial role in your personal and professional life.

It has been mentioned before and we think of it as our responsibility to state it again that the kind of music is indispensable for you to be able to experience the psychological benefits mentioned above. The hard-rock, punk music that blows your ears is not likely to serve the same role. Bringing the volume all the way to the max that the people sitting on the other corner of the room can listen to it coming out of your earphones is not meant to benefit you. The whole point here is to make your brain feel calm, peaceful, and relaxed. As long as you are listening to the music that can accomplish this goal, you are all set to experience the benefits mentioned above. [/restrict]