As a practicing musician for a quarter of my life, I spend most of my waking hours surrounding myself with various types of music. Over time, I began to realize that, arguably, I end up spending more time listening to music than doing anything else with that much consistency. You could say that I’m addicted to the way music feels. Considerably every time I put on headphones, like everyone else, I can’t help but feel my mood adjust almost immediately depending on the song. By looking at the research, it is safe to say that I’m not entirely wrong. Studies, across the board, have shown that listening to music can have significantly positive effects on your mental and physical health.
First and foremost, research has shown that listening to music can reduce the biological markers of stress and anxiety. The Banaras Hindu University in India concluded that, listening to music can prevent a significant increase in systolic blood pressure and anxiety related heart rate as well as reducing depression. Not only that but, there are several theories reported by the UK-based Journal of Advanced Nursing, that listening to music can reduce chronic pain from a range of chronic conditions anywhere from the common migraine to some cases of rheumatoid arthritis. Listening to music may be one of the best thing you do all day for your health. Day or night, it can be a profound aid to you.
Listening to the appropriate music, as you can imagine, can also improve productivity and performance whether you’re in the gym or at work. Anyone who puts the headphones on during a long workout knows that music can make time pass a lot faster. Music can easily be used to effectively reduce and even eliminate symptoms of fatigue caused by monotonous work. Which means you can effectively push through longer and more intense workouts with the help on music. In fact, a study done in 2012 by the C. J. Bacon of Sheffield Hallam University, Karageorghis, suggested that cyclist who cycled in time to the music required 7% less oxygen compared to those who didn’t cycle to any music. Music is rhythmically used to expend less energy overall.
Music that the listener perceives as pleasurable increases dopamine production which heightens positive emotions and motivation which are key components in learning. A report from the journal Neurosciences Behavior and Physiology, suggest that a person has a faster ability to recognize images, letters and, numbers with music playing in the background. Additionally, listening to music without a vocal component such as classical or most instrumental tracks improves the duration of concentration. Johns Hopkins University is actually a huge advocate for using music as a learning aid in school by providing successful guideline for incorporating music in the classroom.
The benefits of music far surpass what I mentioned above and more research is being done to further understand how our body and mind respond to the various styles. What we listen to can relieve our stress and anxiety while also filling us with optimism and positive emotions. It can relieve pain and allow us to recall some of our fondest memories. Let’s not forgot, music can also get us through some of the most monotonous of work. It’s time to grab those headphones, and begin to live better with the power of music.
