Music improves our general health state, it has a special power to move us and stir our emotions also. Anyone who has ever wiped tears away from their eyes listening to their favorite sad song will know how powerful simple notes and chords can be.

Scientific studies have shown that it does not only change our mood but it improves our health too.

How music improves our general health

Music matters

Listening to a song can have a real effect on various parts of the brain, studies show that areas responsible for aspects, such as memory and vision, can ‘light up’ in response to music.

“There’s a very wide range of reactions in the body and mind to music, and brain imaging studies have shown that various parts of the brain may be activated by a piece of music,” says Dr Victoria Williamson, lecturer in psychology at Goldsmith’s College, London.

Mood boost

Everyone reacts to music in different ways; some listen to music for a boost on a tough a day, while some might use music to keep awake. One individual may love heavy metal for example, while another is happiest listening to Mozart.

Whatever your preference, a 2011 Canadian study, published in Nature Neuroscience, has shown that plugging in to your favorite music could help melt away a bad mood.

Researchers at McGill University in Montreal showed that listening to pleasurable music of any description induced ‘musical chills’, which triggered the release of the feel-good chemical dopamine.

Focus

Music may even be able to help you concentrate. A new ‘digital tonic’ called Ubrain, which can be downloaded onto smartphones, claims to be able to help people focus, energize, wake up as well as relax.

The process uses two different beats in each ear to create a third ‘perceived’ beat (a binaural beat), which can stimulate certain activity in the brain.

“By helping the brain cortex to generate specific brain waves, we can induce different states of alertness, depending on what we aim to do,” explains Paris-based clinical psychologist Brigitte Forgeot.

Pick up the pace

Listening to certain music could actually help you run faster. The best choices for exercise are up-beat songs that match the tempo of your running stride.

A study at Brunel University in West London has shown that music can help increase endurance by as much as 15 per cent, helping to lower the perception of effort during exercise, as well as increasing energy efficiency by between one and three per cent.

Better mental health

Music can be an effective and positive treatment for people dealing with mental health conditions.

“There are two distinct ways music therapy is used: either as a means of communication and self-expression or for its inherent restorative or healing qualities,” says Bridget O’Connell.

Someone who is very withdrawn may find that music can act as an outlet for expressing things that they’re unable to put into words. It can also act as a stimulus to awaken buried memories or evoke emotional responses that may take weeks to achieve with talking therapies.

De-stress

Music can be a great pick-me-up for when you are feeling stressed.
According to 2011 figures from the mental health charity ‘Mind’, nearly a third of people plugged into their music players to give them a mood boost about work, and almost one in four said that they find listening to music on the way to the workplace helps them de-stress.

Paul Farmer, the charity’s CEO, backs up the statistics by saying that the therapeutic benefits of listening to music are well-known.
Tuning in to one of your favourite songs can be incredibly soothing and help to reduce anxiety.

Patient care

Music can actually have a significant positive impact on patients with long-term illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer and respiratory conditions.

Numerous trials have shown that music can help lower heart rate, blood pressure and help relieve pain, anxiety and improve patient quality of life.

“Music can be incredibly useful for somebody who is in a situation where they have lost a lot of control from their external environment – say they are in hospital for a long period of time with a serious illness and less able to move around,” says Dr Williamson.

The benefits in listening to music is inexhaustible, just plug in your head phones and get lost in music.

Credit: Adam Ramsay

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