For a lot of people, music is an essential part of their daily life. Some depend on it to get them through the morning commute, help them wind down after a busy day or to help them stay motivated during their workout. Therefore, music, depending on the song, can alter our emotions. Have you ever wondered what exactly are the health benefits of listening to music?
Musics affect on us
Physically:
Relieves pain. Music has shown to significantly relieve the feeling of pain.
Improves your workout. Listening to those top workout tracks can boost physical performance and increase endurance during a tough exercise session. This works partly due to the power of distraction: When we’re focusing on a favourite album, we may not notice that we just ran an extra mile.
Helps you sleep better. Listening to music has been shown to help with insomnia. Therefore, making it a cheap and healthy way to better sleep then prescribed medication.
Mindful eating. It has been found that having soft music play in the background while eating, can help you slow down which results in you feeling fuller quicker.
Improves healthy blood flow. As you are probably aware from personal experience, music can evoke different emotions which consequently has a healthy effect on blood vessel function by increasing blood flow.
Mentally:
Reduces stress. Research has found that listening to music can relieve stress by triggering biochemical stress reducers (think of these physiological processes as anti-stress ninjas).
Mediates. Listening to certain types of music can create activity in your brain that’s similar to someone who is meditating.
Eases symptoms of depression. Listening to certain types of music for example, classical, has been shown to help elevate a person’s mood when feeling low. Whereas listening to other types of music for example, heavy metal has been shown to make depressive symptoms worse.
Eases anxiety symptoms. Listening to music has been shown to have a similar effect on a person’s anxiety as getting a massage.
Be a happy driver. Playing music in the car can result in improved mood. Therefore, maybe the next time you feel a bit of road rage creeping out, put on some upbeat music.
