Music and Mental Health: What’s The Relation
In the words of Bob Marley, “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” The rhythm, the lyrics, the symphony, when put together in a perfect combination, make up a song that becomes a significant mood in itself. Music helps people get through difficult times. It helps one to be happy during their success or offers solace when they are alone.
Good mental health leads to a healthy life
In order to live a healthy life, good mental health is the key. Healthy means more than being physically disease-free. Even if you are physically fit, it’s difficult to get work done if you’re feeling mentally low. In order to function correctly, the mind has to be in good health. One exercise to aid in mind fitness is something readily available to most of us: music.
Enhance the way you live by making your mental health better
Did you know Einstein was an excellent pianist and believed that music was his driving force to solve the theory of relativity? It’s been scientifically proven that just a half an hour of a music lesson can increase blood flow in the left hemisphere of the brain. This study has shown that music makes children better and sharper learners. It’s known as the Mozart effect, but the impact isn’t isolated to songs only by Mozart. It holds true for any kind of music. By enhancing the brain’s capacity to grow and change, music has a powerful effect on our brain and our overall mental health.
How does music help in keeping your brain healthy?
Here are a few ways that music helps in keeping the brain healthy:
#1 Relatability
Every person has at least one song in their lives, that has been there for them during eventful times. Whether it is to help them through a break-up or celebrate a new-found love, music reigns in the minds of people by allowing them to relate.
Songs allow you to listen to your own feelings and experience situations being sung by someone else. This distance offers multiple benefits. You are able to feel a connection, to know that you are not alone in your situation or your feelings. It enables you to realize other people have experienced similar states. This all helps to
eliminate loneliness and makes you feel emotionally supported.
#2 Catharsis
Music lets you get in touch with your own emotions and puts these feelings into words, giving you another tool to communicate. This process of recognizing emotions provides relief by helping fight stress, calming body nerves, and soothing the brain. This emotional catharsis can rescue you from emotionally difficult times and even alleviate anxiety. Music has even proven to be therapeutic in pain management by speeding up the healing process.
#3 Hopefulness
Beyond providing emotional relief, music can also be a distraction. It diverts your mind away from heavier emotions, allowing you to escape… Whether this escape takes you to a better, happier time via nostalgia or just opens your imagination to a fantasy world; for at least the duration of a song, you are taken to a different place. This triggers hope, which is one of the best ways to alleviate stress. Being removed from emotional distress, even momentarily helps you start thinking positive and affirming thoughts. Hope brings optimism; a necessity for a healthy mind.
#4 Improvement
Music helps you perform better in high-pressure situations and even enables us to be more social in gatherings. Happy music evokes kindness, empathy, and cooperation, all of which make us better social animals. Listening to music with other people generates oxytocin or the ‘trust chemical,’ which enables us to bond with others easily. Having background music in public areas, such as restaurants and shops, creates a cheery atmosphere, making people happier and more generous. This happens because music produces dopamine, the ‘feel-good’ hormone. The combination of oxytocin and dopamine improves mood and boosts confidence, which then improves their interpersonal skills.
Music is incredibly helpful in improving cognitive processes like memory but is also effective in building confidence and overall personality. By allowing you to express your mental state and feelings, listening to music can lead you to a healthier state of mind.
