When we feel happy, we turn music on. It makes us feel even happier. When we feel sad, we turn music on. It relaxes us and connects us with our emotions. Music touches people’s souls and has been around forever. Knowing all this makes you wonder – what is it about music that affects us so much?
Music affects us in so many ways. Studies show that music can fend off depression, improve blood flow, lower stress hormones, and even improve recovery after surgery!
If you are interested in learning what music can do for your health and how it does it, here are some of the health benefits it offers:
1. Music Improves Your Communication Skills
Peter Brown, a teaching expert at Scholar Advisor says: ‘’It’s no wonder why music is so widespread in the education of children today. Its benefits are so numerous, it would be a disaster if a child didn’t get any music education in their early development.’’
Studies have shown that music stimulates the brain and helps improve both visual and verbal skills.
A month of musical training performed on children aged four to six resulted in an improved ability to understand and explain the meaning of new words. This study combined training in pitch and rhythm, voice and melody, as well as some basic musical concepts.
Another study showed that children aged eight to eleven who are involved in music classes develop a higher IQ verbally, as well as a greater visual ability.
2. Music Affects Your Emotions
Music has great power. It can change our feelings instantly and reflect them all at the same time. This is why we listen to happy music when we want to be positive, and find comfort in sad melodies when we feel blue.
Listening to music can hit you in many ways. It can make you feel pumped up, excited and happy. The right music causes the brain to release a hormone called dopamine, which is also referred to as the “feel good” chemical.
Have you ever noticed how young children get excited when they hear their favorite songs or start dancing to a happy melody? Notes and melodies have great powers, even for those who don’t understand it yet or have no music education.
This phenomenon has been researched time and time again. In fact, a study showed that a fast-paced melody made people feel happier, and slow-paced music in a minor key led them to feel sad.
3. Music Keeps the Brain Healthy
Listening to music has other benefits for our brains in addition to boosting our verbal and visual skills. Musical listening, playing and even training have been shown to keep the brain healthier, especially in old age. Since this is considered an exercise for the brain, people who listen to music often are prone to having better mental sharpness and memory as they age.
Depending on the severity of brain damage, music can even help people regain their memory. It is used as a rehabilitation tool after brain surgery, since listening to songs and melodies can draw on past memories. The sounds and rhythm in music remain in our brains for a long time, even if the rest of the memory is somehow lost.
4. Music Strengthens Your Heart
Music is known to strengthen the heart by releasing endorphins in our brain. Endorphins improve the vascular health, which is why some doctors use music as a part of the recovery process in patients who have suffered from a heart disease.
The results are amazing. Women and men who were exposed to music soon after a type of cardiac surgery experienced less pain and felt less anxious than those who rested without listening to any music whatsoever.
‘’Music isn’t just great for the ear and the mood, it is also great for the heart. Hospitals from all around the world use it to treat their heart patients. It is a kind of a weapon against heart troubles, and one that helps you recover from them once they happen.’’ – says Jeremiah Eagle, an aussiewritings.com expert.
How does music affect our heart, you might ask? It is known to reduce the blood pressure, slower the high heart rates and reduce the stress in patients.
5. Music Helps You Sleep Better
With so many people who turn to music for some help with their sleep, it is not surprising that music boosts our sleep quality, too. Since it reduces the heart rates and the stress, which are some of the biggest culprits for insomnia, it can be used as a tool for sleep improvement.
Because of the many health benefits it offers, music can be used to promote and build a better sleep pattern, as well as maintain a restful sleep. In some cases, it is even used to treat the insomnia.
6. Music Reduces Anxiety and Depression
Since it does wonders for our heart and reduces stress, music also eliminates depression. It is often used during therapy for depression and anxiety because of these characteristics. Music is known to boost the mood, psyche and general quality of life.
7. Music Reduces Pain and Boosts the Immune System
Did you know that music can be used to reduce pain? Music helps people reduce the amount of cortisol in their body, a hormone responsible for many diseases and weakening of the immune system in general. Too big of an amount of cortisol in your body puts you at risk for heart disease, blood pressure, can interfere with your memory and lower your bone density. Interestingly, music can change all this.
According to research, listening to uplifting music provides the body with antibodies that boost the immune system and even reduces pain.
Did you know of the health benefits music offers? It is more than just a hobby or something you listen to while driving in your car – music has tremendous benefits for your health that you can’t overlook.
- 7 Ways Music Benefits Your Health - February 26, 2019
