Can Music Reduce Stress?

Here’s what research tells us about the power of music to improve our physical, mental, and emotional health. Although music therapy is not a cure for any mental health condition, it can be an effective and enjoyable tool for reducing the symptoms of numerous conditions, including depression and anxiety. Music improves mood, reduces stress and anxiety, provides relaxation,allows us to feel possibly all emotions that we experience in our lives. Sad music can cause negative feelings of profound grief.Thankyou for sharing the information.

When you feel good, you’re more likely to relax and let go of your stress. This then helps you to deal with stressful times in a more calm and organized fashion. Listening to soothing music is a great way to help you wind down and relax before slumber. Sleep quality can also be boosted as wake up times during the night become less. You will wake up feeling much more refreshed in the morning as your body remains calm throughout the night.

Johns Hopkins researchers have had dozens of jazz performers and rappers improvise music while lying down inside an fMRI machine to watch and see which areas of their brains light up. The advice “take a deep breath” may seem like a cliché, but it holds true when it comes to stress. For centuries, Buddhist monks have been conscious of deliberate breathing during meditation. Getting your blood moving releases endorphins and can improve your mood almost instantaneously. Exercise doesn’t necessarily mean power lifting at the gym or training for a marathon. A short walk around the office or simply standing up to stretch during a break at work can offer immediate relief in a stressful situation.

Listening to the Beatles might bring you back to the first moment you laid eyes on your spouse, for instance. Listen to what your kids or grandkids listen to, experts suggest. Often we continue to listen to the same songs and genre of music that we did during our teens and 20s, and we generally avoid hearing anything that’s not from that era.

Music therapists work with a variety of patients of all ages. Like other forms of therapy, including art therapy, music therapists plan individualized sessions to help you meet your goals. "People are not only living longer these days, they want to remain healthy and active for as long as possible," said Antoinette Follett, editor-in-chief of "Making Music" magazine. According to a study published by the American Psychological Association, playing an instrument as a child keeps the mind sharper as we age. Instead, take a tip from Dana Marlowe and simply jam away for the fun of it.

Studies show listening to music you can’t stand is a recipe for disaster at any tempo. But listen to an artist or album you love, and you’ll experience the calming powers of sound. The slower a song, the more likely you are to experience deeper breathing, stress relief music lower blood pressure, and a lower heart rate. Faster music has the opposite effect—pumping up your vitals and propelling you to move. Often, music used for meditation has a slow tempo, which can reduce heart rate, and also lower anxiety and stress levels.