Listening to music can be entertaining but did you know it might even make you healthier?

By Deepika Khurana

Music is considered therapeutic but various researches suggest that it can have psychological benefits as well. At some point or the other, we all have experienced music influencing our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. That pumped up feeling while listening to your favourite rock band or tears rolling down your cheeks while watching a live performance is an evidence loud and clear to understand the power of music and its impact on our moods and action.

Various studies have shown that music can elevate your mood and fend off depression. In fact, it can improve the flow of blood in ways similar to statins besides lowering your levels of stress-related hormones like cortisol. Besides, these days there’s a growing field of healthcare known as music therapy, which uses music to heal.

Music therapy has proved beneficial in case of cancer patients, children with attention deficit disorder, help ward off depression, to calm patients, ease muscle tension, and for many other healthcare problems.

So if you are wondering what other potential benefits music might offer, the list is endless as it may also aid in lowering blood pressure, reduce risk of stroke, boost immunity, etc.

How can music be so powerful?

According to a study co-authored by Kim Innes, a professor of epidemiology at West Virginia University’s School of Public Health, music-listening boosts mood and well-being and improves stress-related measures in older adults suffering from cognitive decline. Her study, published in 2016 compared the benefits of music to those of meditation for its mental-health perks. She found that both meditating and listening music was linked to significant improvements in mood and sleep quality.

So, if you find hard to meditate then fret not because music can have a profound effect on your well-being.

However, be cautious about your choice of music as random listening and creepy music can fan the flames of anxiety. According to Joanne Loewy, an associate professor and director of the Louis Armstrong Center for Music & Medicine at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in New York, “Some of our data show that putting on any wrong music, that’s not of your taste can actually induce stress.”

This is because rhythm and other characteristics of the songs we select can modulate our heartbeat and the activity of our brain’s neural networks.

Therefore, tracks with a slow tempo tend to have a calming effect on us, explains Daniel Levitin, a professor of psychology who researches the cognitive neuroscience of music at McGill University in Canada. He says, “There’s no one piece of music that will do the same thing for everyone.”

Music For Depression

Researchers have found that music therapy can be a safe and effective treatment for a variety of mental health problems, including depression.

A study published in the World Journal of Psychiatry revealed that in addition to reducing depression and anxiety in patients suffering from neurological conditions such as dementia, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease, music therapy showed no negative side effects. This proves it is a safe and low-risk approach to treatment.

The study highlighted that choice of music is important as it has been found that classical and meditation music offered mood-boosting benefits, over heavy metal and techno music which were found to be loud and ineffective.

Music certainly has the power to inspire and entertain, but it also has powerful psychological effects that can prove beneficial for overall health and well-being. It can help you gain energy when feeling drained or deal with emotional stress.

So, next time if you feel stuck while working on a task, consider turning on your favourite music in the background for better results.