The Benefits Music Provides For Our Overall Well Being
Written by Kyleigh Ing October 13th 2021
Whether we create, dance, or listen to a piece of music, it is tightly integrated into our lives through the steady beats, catchy rhythms and dynamic melodies. There are many benefits music covers that can help us to live a healthier lifestyle. During the pandemic, the majority of the global population has experienced the emotional hardship that isolation and separation has granted us. As we break from the constraints imposed by Covid, the emphasis on mental health has grown significantly.
One of the ways music is beneficial for our well being is the emotional relief it provides us. Music creates sound waves when played, which in turn creates vibrations in our ears. These vibrations cause a number of things to happen at the same time. They help us to increase the amount of neurological activity in particular areas of the brain. Our amygdala and hippocampus are two parts of the brain that can be triggered as a result of music. These two parts of the brain are responsible for most of our emotional outcome. Music helps to create dopamine which these parts of the brains can use to create a result of content emotions. However, these aren’t the only benefits music provides for us.
Along with helping us to keep joyous emotions, music is also a great way to relieve stress. Neurochemicals are secreted when the presence of music is there and these neurochemicals help us to cope with stress.
In a study conducted by Dr. Jenny Goarke, from Queen’s University Belfast. They tested how music would impact the levels of stress in different age groups. Forty participants were selected for each age bracket; ages 18-30 and ages 60-81. Every participant constructed their own playlist for the purposes of the test. Everyone was asked to perform a speech while being recorded, which created elevated stress levels in the participants so that they could observe how much music would impact the amount of stress the participant was feeling. After recording their speeches, half of the participants from each age bracket would listen to their playlists; created beforehand. The other half of the participants from each group would instead listen to a radio documentary that had no prior connection to each participant.
The results concluded that the participants who listened to their playlists after the speech had a significant decrease in stress. However, those who listened to the radio documentary didn’t show as drastic of a change in stress levels. In both groups of participants ages 60-81, they showed more of a decrease in stress levels than the participants ages 18-30 if you compare the groups by the ones who listened to their playlist and those who listened to the radio documentary.
While the two benefits music provides for us seem disconnected from each other, they show a strong relationship in our lives. When we feel emotionally satisfied or content, this helps to reduce our levels of stress. This works both ways because lowering our levels of stress can help us to move into better spirits and have a better attitude.
Among these benefits that music gives us, there are numerous more that impact our lifestyle that have and have yet to be discovered. As you can conclude, music is much more than a band of sounds put together for enjoyment. It may have started out this way, but the byproducts of music have reached extraordinary heights when being tightly woven into our lives.
Works Cited
Music and the Brain Online. October 10, 2021.
Music on Our Minds: The Rich Potential of Music to Promote Brain Health and Mental
Well-Being Online. October 11, 2021.
Schaefer, Hans-Eckhardt. Music-Evoked Emotions-Current Studies. Online. October 11, 202.
<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5705548/>
Study finds that listening to music helps reduce stress and it has a bigger impact the older you
get. Online. October 11, 2021. <https://www.qub.ac.uk/News/Allnews/2019/Studyfindsthatlisteningtomusichelpsreducestressandithasabiggerimpacttheolderyouget.html>
Why We’re Obsessed With Music From Our Youth. Online. October 11, 2021.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/music-youth-17765/>