If you spend too much time listening to music, well now you have a great excuse to keep up the habit. Regardless of your preferred genre, music has health benefits, and there’s lots of research out there to back this up. Here is an infographic highlighting some of the major health benefits you get when you turn on the music:
Studies have even shown that listening to music during a test allowed those taking the test to complete more questions in the time given.
Uplifting concertos from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons can boost mental alertness, according to research from Northumbria University in the United Kingdom. When young adults were given a task that required intense concentration, they did better while listening to the bright ”Spring” concerto versus the slower and more somber “Autumn” one.
iStock/ Thinkstock
…The more years middle-aged and older adults spent playing musical instruments as children, the faster their brains responded to speech sounds during an experiment, according to a study in the Journal of Neuroscience. A slower response could be indicative of how ably adults interpret speech.
“Being a millisecond faster may not seem like much, but the brain is very sensitive to timing. A millisecond compounded over millions of neurons can make a real difference in the lives of older adults,” Michael Kilgard, a University of Texas at Dallas brain researcher who was not involved in the study, commented in a press release. Via Reader’s Digest
Listening to music has been compared to taking a massage – they have the same effect on the body. Another interesting fact is that listening to mellow music has been found to help drivers calm down – a simple yet effective solution if you’re prone to road rage. And if you like to spoil yourself with live music, well you now have a good excuse since it’s more effective than recorded music at reducing anxiety.
Calming music can decrease blood pressure, steady the heart rate, and ease stress. Research has shown that music can reduce stress for patients undergoing surgeries and colonoscopies, for children undergoing medical procedures, and for patients with coronary heart disease. Via Huffington Post
A growing amount of evidence also suggests that clinicians can use the power of music to help people recover from surgery and other medical procedures.
Studies have found that listening to music before surgery can reduce anxiety, and may also reduce the need for sedatives. Listening to music after surgery, and even during, may ease pain and the need for pain meds. Hospitals seem to be taking notice. Via CNN
For example, surgery patients at the Cleveland Clinic that listened to recorded music saw a four-time decrease in post-surgical pain. Music has also been shown to reduce the amount of anesthesia needed during operations. Via Huffington Post
If you hit the gym sporadically and haven’t been able to become consistent about working out, maybe it’s because you keep forgetting to take your favorite music with you. Cueing up your favorite tunes while exercising encourages the production of nitric oxide, a gas helps with blood vessel dilation and enhances your flexibility.
Working out while listening to music will not only make you work harder, but you will feel less tired. This means you not only get to enjoy your workouts, but you’ll probably start seeing the results of your hard work faster. What more do you need to keep you going?
Maybe the fact that you eat less and enjoy your food more while listening to music!
5. Faster recovery
Listening to music also speeds up your recovery – whether after a workout session or if you’re recovering from an illness.
In her book The Power of Music, author Elena Mannes shares the story of a stroke patient who has lost the ability to speak. After struggling to re-learn normal speech patterns, the patient makes a breakthrough by singing her words rather than saying them. This approach is known as melodic intonation therapy and it engages the right side of the brain more than normal speech. As a result, this different section of the brain can stand in as a replacement for the normal language area and be used to communicate through song. Via Huffington Post
Music is good for your heart, so your chances of living longer increase. Additionally, the emotions that you experience while listening to music have a positive effect on your blood vessel function. You feel happier as a result of the music, which in turn increases your blood flow.
Music therapy has also been used successful in helping patients of, among other issues, heart problems. It is considered a holistic health approach because it incorporates a variety of physical and mental processes.
You may have probably heard about how listening to Mozart can make your baby smarter. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that this is real. This does not mean though that you should ditch classical music. Listening to this genre when you are an adult is actually beneficial to your brain and health.
Become More Alert and Improve Memory
Listening to classical music can enhance your alertness based on the findings of Northumbria University. The researcher performed a study where they tested the subjects who had to listen to classical music by Vivaldi… Via Steth News
The benefits of music therapy help orchestrate its rise in patient care
‘Well, sure, maybe just a few minutes of music.”
This is the typical response I hear from patients when I offer them a music therapy session. Usually their initial hesitation leads to a visit lasting up to an hour, which may be followed by many more sessions.
As a music therapist, I work in an urban cancer centre, a residential hospice and a long-term care home. I move from inpatient units to outpatient appointments to staff support sessions lugging my keyboard, Tibetan singing bowls, an ocean drum and perhaps a fiddle and a guitar. Via Globe and Mail
What Are The Health Benefits of Music?
There are several health benefits of listening to music, irrespective of what genre you prefer. Researchers suggest that music not only helps us cope with pain, but also benefits our physical and mental health in many ways.
Most of us already know that music instils and stirs our emotions in a magical way. This in-turn also affects our emotional and mental health. For e.g. anyone who has ever wiped tears away from their eyes listening to their favourite sad song will know what I mean. Via CureJoy
You may have probably heard about how listening to Mozart can make your baby smarter. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that this is real. This does not mean though that you should ditch classical music. Listening to this genre when you are an adult is actually beneficial to your brain and health.
‘Well, sure, maybe just a few minutes of music.”
There are several health benefits of listening to music, irrespective of what genre you prefer. Researchers suggest that music not only helps us cope with pain, but also benefits our physical and mental health in many ways.
