Why listening music brings positive
emotions?
There's no doubt that listening to your favorites music can instantly put
you in a good mood. It can be considered in some way as a core function
in our brain. Yes, our brains are wired from the beginning to process and
understand music. Yet music has always been sort of a mystery, especially since
it's not typically considered "necessary" for survival, as it is not
part of the “the must” trio food, sex, and sleep.
However, when we satisfy our desire
to eat, to sleep, or reproduce, our brain releases dopamine-- the
"feel good" neuro-chemical involved when we experience pleasure and
reward. The recent study, conducted by researchers at McGill University in
Canada, revealed a surprising fact that the same chemical is released when
listening to music.
From an academic standpoint, this is
a fascinating study. According to the researchers, this may be the first study
to show that an abstract reward such as listening to music - as opposed to a
tangible reward such as eating and sleeping - releases dopamine. We've
traditionally considered abstract rewards to be processed on a more cognitive
level, but this study shows that our ancient reward circuits can be involved.
Additionally, it points to a shared
neural network involving tangible and abstract rewards. We already know that
skills such as speech production use shared neural networks to those used to
sing. This study shows a similar relationship, demonstrating shared neural
circuitry involving how our reward circuits process tangible and abstract
rewards.
From a practical standpoint, this
will not affect your average day-to-day listening. Just know that, when you
experience an emotion while listening to music, ancient reward circuits are
flooding your brain with a chemical designed to make you feel good.
Health Benefits of Music
Multiple scientific researchers have also proved that music can do more for
you than just lift your spirits. It is absolutely clear that it has plenty of
health benefits. For example, a fresh research from Austria has found that
listening to music can help patients with chronic back pain. Another recent
survey by Mind - the mental health charity - found that after counseling,
patients found group therapy such as art and music therapy, the most useful.
Here, we are going to review several proven ways on how listening music may
positively affect your health and general wellbeing.
1.
Effective Therapy for Pain
Overall, music does have positive
effects on pain management. Music can help reduce both the sensation and
distress of both chronic pain and postoperative pain. Listening to music can
reduce chronic pain from a range of painful conditions, including
osteoarthritis, disc problems and rheumatoid arthritis, by up to 21% and
depression by up to 25%, according to a paper in the latest UK-based Journal of
Advanced Nursing.
Music therapy is increasingly used
in hospitals to reduce the need for medication during childbirth, to decrease
postoperative pain and complement the use of anesthesia during surgery.
There are several theories about how
music positively affects perceived pain:
- · Music serves as a distracter.
- · Music may give the patient a sense of control.
- · Music causes the body to release endorphins to counteract pain.
- · Slow music relaxes person by slowing their breathing and heartbeat.
One of the popular theories elaborates that music works on the autonomic nervous
system - the part of the nervous system responsible for controlling our blood
pressure, heartbeat and brain function - and also the limbic system - the part
of the brain that controls feelings and emotions. According to one piece of
research, both these systems react sensitively to music.
When slow rhythms are played, our blood pressure and heartbeat slow down
which helps us breathe more slowly, thus reducing muscle tension in our neck,
shoulders, stomach and back. And experts say that apart from physical tension,
music also reduces psychological tension in our mind.
In other words when we feel pain, we become frightened, frustrated and
angry which makes us tense up hundreds of muscles in our back. Listening to
music on a regular basis helps our bodies relax physically and mentally, thus
helping to relieve - and prevent – for example, back pain.
Clinical psychologist Franz Wendtner who led one of the related recent
studies in Austria's General Hospital of Salzburg says: “Music is an important
part of our physical and emotional wellbeing - ever since we were babies in our
mother's womb listening to her heartbeat and breathing rhythms. Listening to
music for about 25 minutes every day for at least ten days can help prevent
back pain and also make you sleep better.”
Which type of music is best? Experts believe any type of classical music such
as Mozart or Beethoven can help relieve muscle pain. Calm, slow music is also
thought to help.
2.
Reducing blood pressure
By playing recordings of relaxing
music every morning and evening, people with high blood pressure can train
themselves to lower their blood pressure - and keep it low. According to
research reported at the American Society of Hypertension meeting in New
Orleans, listening to just 30 minutes of classical, Celtic or raga music every
day may significantly reduce high blood pressure.
3.
Medicine for the heart
Music is good for your heart.
Research shows that it is musical tempo, rather than style. Italian and British
researchers recruited young men and women, half of whom were trained musicians.
The participants slipped on head phones and listened to six styles of music,
including rap and classical pieces, with random two-minute pauses. As the
participants kicked back and listened, the researchers monitored their
breathing, heart rates and blood pressure. The participants had faster heart
and breathing rates when they listened to lively music. When the musical
slowed, so did their heart and breathing rates. Some results were surprising.
During the musical pauses, heart and breathing rates normalized or reached more
optimal levels. Whether or not a person liked the style of music did not
matter. The tempo, or pace, of the music had the greatest effect on relaxation.
Research presented at the 2009 European Society of Cardiology Congress in
Barcelona, Spain suggests that music therapy is effective not only at treating,
but also preventing the heart-related events, including the lethal cases of
sudden death. All of the patients in the study had heart issues serious enough
to necessitate revascularization, a surgical procedure designed to restore
blood flow where it has been compromised or limited. That meant they were at
risk for a future coronary event not only because of their heart health status,
but also because the fear of a potential repeat surgery likely increased their
stress and anxiety, which is never good for the heart.
And what type of music did the patients listen to during the study?
Classical music appeared to be the general preference, but the lead author of
the study emphasizes that music therapy may actually have a negative effect if
patients are forced to listen to music they don’t like, suggesting that the
type of music (within reason) is not as important as whether you enjoy
listening to it and how it affects your overall mood and stress levels.
4.
Speeds Post-Stroke Recovery
A daily dose of one's favorite pop
melodies, classical music or jazz can speed recovery from debilitating strokes,
according to the latest research. When stroke patients in Finland listened to
music for a couple of hours each day, verbal memory and attention span improved
significantly compared to patients who received no musical stimulation, or who
listened only to stories read out loud, the study reports.
5.
Chronic headaches & migraine remedy
Music can help migraine and chronic
headache sufferers reduce the intensity, frequency, and duration of the
headaches.
6.
Music boosts immunity
Music can boost the immune function.
Scientists explain that a particular type of music can create a positive and
profound emotional experience, which leads to secretion of immune-boosting
hormones. This helps contribute to a reduction in the factors responsible for
illness. Listening to music or singing can also decrease levels of
stress-related hormone cortisol. Higher levels of cortisol can lead to a
decreased immune response.
7.
Music improves memory performance
The power of music to affect memory
is quite intriguing. Mozart's music and baroque music, with a 60 beats per
minute beat pattern, activates the left and right brain. The simultaneous left
and right brain action maximizes learning and retention of information. The
information being studied activates the left brain while the music activates
the right brain. Also, activities which engage both sides of the brain at the
same time, such as playing an instrument or singing, cause the brain to be more
capable of processing information.
Listening to music facilitates the
recall of information. Researchers have shown that certain types of music are a
great "keys" for recalling memories. Information learned while
listening to a particular song can often be recalled simply by
"playing" the songs mentally.
That is why, music listening
especially is helpful for medical conditions, associated with memory loss and impairment.
For many people suffering from memory
loss the spoken language has become meaningless. Music can help patients
remember tunes or songs and get in touch with their history. This is because
the part of the brain which processes music is located next to memory.
Researchers from Norway's Sogn Og Fjordane College compared the effects of
live, taped and no music on three different groups of people suffering from
post traumatic amnesia - or memory loss. The patients were exposed to all three
conditions, twice over six consecutive days. Results showed that when patients
listened to live or taped music, two thirds of them showed significantly
reduced symptoms of anxiety and enhanced orientation, compared to the group
that didn't listen to music.
8.
Music improves concentration and attention
Easy listening music or relaxing classics
improves the duration and intensity of concentration in all age groups and
ability levels. It's not clear what type of music is better, or what kind of
musical structure is necessary to help, but many studies have shown significant
effects.
9.
Music improves physical exercises
effectiveness
Experts say listening to music during exercise can give you a better
workout in several ways. Scientists claim it can increase your endurance, boost
your mood and can distract you from any discomfort experienced during your
workout.
The research: Dr Robert Herdegen of America's Hampden-Sydney
College in Virginia, looked at the effects of 12 men riding a bicycle for ten
minutes while listening to music on one day. He compared it to the same men
riding bicycles without music for ten minutes the following day. On the days
that the men exercised listening to music, they travelled 11 per cent further -
compared to the days they didn't listen to music. Researchers also found that
the men's levels of exertion were at their lowest when listening to music.
Other studies show that listening to music releases endorphins - our
natural 'feel good' hormones that lift our mood and give us motivation to carry
on longer with exercise. The best type of music for exercise is thought to be
high energy, high tempo music such as hip hop or dance music.
10.
Music improves body movement and
coordination
Music reduces muscle tension and
improves body movement and coordination. Music may play an important role in
developing, maintaining and restoring physical functioning in the
rehabilitation of persons with movement disorders.
11.
Fatigue fighter
Listening to upbeat music can be a
great way to find some extra energy. Music can effectively eliminate
exercise-induced fatigue and fatigue symptoms caused by monotonous work or
household related activities.
Keep in mind that listening to too
much pop and hard rock music can make you more jittery than energized. Vary
what you listen to and find out what type of music is most beneficial for you.
You could try classical music one day, pop the next day and jazz the third.
12.
Relaxing music induces sleep
Relaxing classical music is safe,
cheap and easy way to beat insomnia. Many people who suffer from insomnia find
that Bach music helps them. Relaxing music reduces sympathetic nervous system
activity, decreases anxiety, blood pressure, heart and respiratory rate and may
have positive effects on sleep via muscle relaxation and distraction from
thoughts.
Researchers have shown just 45
minutes of relaxing music before bedtime can make for a restful night. The
Taiwanese researchers studied the sleeping patterns of 60 elderly people with
sleep problems. They told the Journal of Advanced Nursing, how the technique
was easy to learn and lacked the side-effects of other treatments. The study
participants were either given a choice of music to listen to before going to
sleep or nothing at all. The music group were able to choose from six tapes
that featured soft, slow music - around 60-80 beats per minute - such as jazz,
folk or orchestral pieces. Listening to music caused physical changes that
aided restful sleep, including a lower heart and respiratory rate, the
researchers found. The people in the music group reported a 35% improvement in
their sleep, including better and longer night-time sleep and less dysfunction
during the day.
According to another study from
University of Toronto, Canada, a wide range of classical music assists
insomniacs to sleep. Handel's "Water Music," Vivaldi's "The Four
Seasons," Brahms "Lullaby," Mozart's "Baroque Music,"
Debussy's "Arabesque #1" and Strauss's "Waltzes" are among
the most successful pieces used in the treatment of insomnia. However, J.S.
Bach's "Cello Suites" or his "Goldberg Variations," the
latter literally written for a nobleman who had difficulty sleeping, are
perhaps the apex of serene and soporific melodies.
There's even a CD of violin and harp
music by Gidon Kramer and Yaoko Noshino called "Insomnia." Released
by Philips in 2000, this recording contains tunes by Satie, Strauss and Cage,
among others, all designed to lure the insomniac into sweet dreamland.
13.
Music reduces stress and aids relaxation
Listening to slow, quiet classical
music, is proven to reduce stress. Countless studies have shown that music's
relaxing effects can be seen on anyone, including newborns. One of the great
benefits of music as a stress reliever is that it can be used while you do your
usual deeds so that it really doesn't take time.
How does music reduce stress?
·
Physical relaxation. Music can promote
relaxation of tense muscles, enabling you to easily release some of the tension
you carry from a stressful day.
·
Aids in stress relief activities. Music
can help you get "into the zone" when practicing yoga, self hypnosis
or guided imagery, can help you feel energized when exercising and recover
after exercising, help dissolve the stress when you're soaking in the tub.
·
Reduces negative emotions. Music,
especially upbeat tunes, can take your mind off what stresses you, and help you
feel more optimistic and positive. This helps release stress and can even help
you keep from getting as stressed over life's little frustrations in the
future. Researchers discovered that music can decrease the amount of the
cortisol, a stress-related hormone produced by the body in response to stress.
14.
Music improves mood and decreases depression
Music is one of the best relaxation therapies in today’s times of depression. The
stress-buster effects of soothing music are well known but in many cases it has
also been observed that the time taken in healing process reduces miraculously
due to music.
If you are in a sad-depressed mood and you listen to a sad song, the feeling is bound to get on your nerves and you are bound to either feel better or start feeling bad. The mood swings are also affected to a good extent with the musical effects. Ask a person in love how he/she feels while listen to a sweet romantic song and you would get ample indication about the magic effects of music. It is an excellent way to lift the spirit, to reduce anxiety, develop a sense of well being and to promote a feeling of peacefulness. Also whenever our mind is tense and body tired up, music acts as a perfect method to calm down the state of mind and relax.
Music's ability to "heal
the soul" is the stuff of legend in every culture. Many people find
that music lifts their spirits. Modern research tends to confirm music's
psychotherapeutic benefits. Bright, cheerful music (e.g. Mozart, Vivaldi,
bluegrass, Klezmer, Salsa, reggae) is the most obvious prescription for the
blues.
As it turns out, performing music
can be relaxing and can create a distraction from withdrawal symptoms;
songwriting can help patients confront impulse control and self-deception and
allows an output for negative emotions; hence the entire songbook of Raffi.
15. Music helps to fight addiction
It has even been found that
listening to music can help aid the detox stage of recovery from drug
addiction, and if applied frequently could cut down on the number of
pain-killers patients need.
Music directly affects chemicals
called neurotransmitters which relay information in our head. Drugs work in a
similar way, except they make your brain lazy and convince it to stop making
its own chemicals. But when you stop taking drugs, your brain isn't making
enough chemicals and it doesn't know why because it relies on those
drugs to get enough, so your body fails to function correctly. Introducing
music can increase levels of some chemicals associated with heavy addictions,
like dopamine and norepinephrine.
Sources and Additional Information:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-137116/Why-listening-music-key-good-health.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-137116/Why-listening-music-key-good-health.html
