Turn UP the Music!!
The Impact of Music on Mental Health
Whether you are aware of it or not, music often surrounds us everywhere we go -- the quiet jazz playing at your local coffee house, EDM pumping through the speakers at the club, the touching live-performance at your favorite playhouse. Music can function to inspire us, to motivate us, to empathize with us. Though intangible, music connects people to each other, to the world around them, and to themselves. However, beyond the universality of music, there are actually some major psychological benefits to music as well. Read on to learn how music can function as a tool to strengthen our physical, mental and emotional health.
-
Music has the very rare ability to alter moods. If we are feeling down, we can play a happy go-lucky tune to turn our attitudes around. If sluggish, a motivating song might do the trick. To calm an environment, many people turn to soft instrumentals. Whatever mood you happen to be in, music can meet you where you are at, and even take you somewhere new. One study found that when participants intentionally listened to positive music to improve their mood, they saw results in just two weeks (Cherry). Listening to upbeat or calming music has the greatest overall effect on increasing mood, “in fact, researchers have claimed classical and ambient music have the best mood-boosting benefits, while metal and hard electronic music were considered to have the opposite effect” (“5 Positive Effects”).
Just as music can improve mood, it can also increase motivation. Many athletes, artists, and educators utilize music in their fields of expertise in order to maximize their performance. Researchers have even found that listening to fast-paced music motivates people to work out harder and exert more energy. This often occurs because listening to music effectively distracts a person from their perception of personal exertion. Instead of focusing on heavy respiration, sweat, and exhaustion, that person can instead listen to the music and drown out these obvious signs of exertion (Cherry). -
After a long and stressful day, it is very common for people to switch on soft and calm music. But why do we do this, and does it actually help us relax? Besides the mood-boosting qualities of music itself, soft ambient music actually does work to moderate stress. Music can also release tension in your muscles, dissipating the physical indicators of stress as well. Listening to music when trying to sleep can actually slow one’s breathing and calm their mind.
In fact, in a study conducted in 2013, out of the three conditions of listening to music, listening to the sound of water and listening to nothing at all, music had the greatest effect on the human stress response. Those participants who listened to relaxing music tended to recover more quickly from an aversive stressor than those who did not (Cherry). -
While music is an awesome outlet for positive emotions, it can also work to mitigate negative feelings as well. Music has the unique ability to empathize with us, and it can connect many people all over the world through shared experiences. Through song, people can share about their experiences, including those related to mental health. This way both creators and listeners can feel connected to the song and more understood. On top of this, certain music can help those struggling with anxiety. In a recent study conducted by Mindlab International, Dr. Lewis-Hodgson discovered that classical or ambient music can help reduce anxiety up to 65% (“5 Positive Effects”).
Music can also support those struggling with physical pain. Though intangible, music can make a significant impact on those experiencing chronic pain. A study researching fibromyalgia patients found that “those who listened to music for just one hour a day experienced a significant reduction in pain compared to those in a control group” (Cherry). The implications of this finding are astounding. Music, something once considered purely artistic, can actually be put to use in the medical world as well. Another 2015 study found that “patients who listened to music before, during, or even after surgery experienced less pain and anxiety than those who did not listen to music” (Cherry). -
Depending on what kind of worker you are, music can be an effective tool to improve focus. If you are someone whose mind often wanders in silence, listening to soft music can help you stay attuned to the task at hand. Listening to soft jazz or lyric-less music can be an excellent way to fill the silence, while not taking up too much of your brain’s attention. Research has found that background music “can improve performance on cognitive tasks in older adults” and that both upbeat and downbeat music can lead to improvements in memory (Cherry). Of course, this all depends on the participant themselves. If the listener is musically naive, positive music can bolster their learning. However, musically trained students often perform better with neutral music because this music is less distracting and easier to tune out. And if you are a person who usually finds themselves distracted with all music in general, maybe opting for silence will be the most beneficial (Cherry).
-
All of this to say, music has a greater impact on our everyday lives than we could have ever known. Music has the ability to both draw us in with inward reflection or spread us out with outward connection. Music can heal us physically and mentally. It can push us to be our best and it can help us see the world through another’s eyes. Take a minute to think about all of the songs or artists that have irrevocably impacted you—those who made you see the world (or yourself) differently. Make a playlist of songs that always seem to cheer you up. And another one of songs that get you pumped. And you can even put together a playlist of songs that seem to make you feel heard when you are feeling down. If you let those songs be there for you when you need them most, and share them with those around you, then the world will be a much more melodious place indeed.
-
My Feel-Good Hits:
Breakdown - Jack Johnson
Home - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Fidelity - Regina Spektor
Twenty-Two and Some Change - Stephen Day
Young at Heart - Frank Sinatra
Reason For Dreaming - The Happy Fits
You Can’t Control It - Jack Johnson
Honeybee - The Head and the Heart
Don’t Matter Now - George Ezra
Wild World - Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors
Love on the Weekend - John Mayor
Sunday Candy - Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment
Walls - The Lumineers
Subway Song - Julianna Zachariou
La Vie En Rose - Louis Armstrong
At Last - Etta James
Stay Alive - Jose Gonzales
Old Things - Langhorne Slim
World Wide Open - Matthew Wright
-
“5 Positive Effects Music Has on Your Mental Health.” Open Minds, 13 Feb. 2020, www.openminds.org.au/news/5-positive-effects-music-mental-health.
Cherry, Kendra. “10 Surprising Psychological Benefits of Music.” Verywell Mind, 10 Dec. 2019, www.verywellmind.com/surprising-psychological-benefits-of-music-4126866.