We often hear and enjoy music yet so few of us wonder how
music can actually affect us, whether it be mood or motivation.
While music can have negative impacts, in this article we
focus on the benefits, as we look at 5 possible positive effects listening to
music can have on you.
1. Music Increases Happiness
Listening to your favourite music can help you feel a
natural boost in your mood, helping you feel happier in that specific moment in
time. You don't have to listen for too long either, as just 15 minutes of
listening to music can cause the desired response in the brain to help you feel
better.
This is because the act of listening to music, which is pleasurable,
releases dopamine in the brain, making you feel happier and more excited when
you do. So if you ever want a small pick me up,just put on a track you like and
enjoy the moment
2. Music Improves Health
Music directly
impacts the hormonal balance in your body, and so can have significant impact
on your health and wellbeing on a day to day basis. For example, listening to
music can decrease levels of cortisol in the body, meaning it significantly lowers
the level of stress you feel and your overall wellbeing.
Stress is a big factor in illnesses and disease that we
face in our body, meaning if you can reduce stress in your life, you're more
likely to stay healthy. Studies have
shown that people playing instruments or who sang had boosted immune systems
compared to the people who were passively listening, though both showed
improvements.
3. Improves Learning and Memory
Research has found that listening to music can help you
learn and recall information more efficiently, although it depends on the degree
to which you like the music. For example, a study showed that musicians actually
learned better with neutral music, but tested better with music that they liked.
While non-musicians learned better with positive music but
tested better with neutral music, thus flipping the benefits of music in
various circumstances. However, having
non-distracting music can aid your learning and memory, helping you perform better in different circumstances depending
on what you are doing.
4. Reduce Depression
As we've already established, music has a direct effect on
our hormones and therefore can even be considered a natural antidepressant. This
is as we listen to music, it releases serotonin and dopamine to help you feel
happier, while it can also evoke feelings of euphoria as you listen.
With more than 350 million people worldwide sufferring from
depression and 90% of them also
experiencing insomnia, music can significantly help on both accounts. However,
what you listen to is key, as a study found that while classical and relaxing music
increased positive moods, techno and heavy metal made people feel worse
5. Increase IQ and Performance
Research has found
that listening and more specifically, learning to play music can have a great
benefit on a young child's IQ and academic performance. The study looked at a
group of 6 year olds who took keyboard and vocal lessons for 36 weeks, whereby
the results showed increases in IQ and improvements in educational tests.
Interestingly, it was the singing group that showed the
most improvement, going to show that you don't need any additional resources to
improve. Therefore, listen to music, and sing along if you can, doing so can
have amazing benefits to you in your life
Do you listen to music and if so, what kind of music do you
like?
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