Music affects your health in more ways than you can think. Music serves as an excellent backdrop for your life and its enjoyment from what you’re doing while also reducing stress.  In most cases music can help make you feel more alert and enhance your concentration. 

Stress and Anxiety are mental health conditions which cause mental and emotional tension within the body. Cortisol is a hormone released during stress. Different song waves activate different parts of the brain which can explain why when listening to calming music we tend to release anxiety and worry and listening to upbeat music lifts your mood. Upbeat music typically stimulates the brain to release endorphins and healing hormones that help you reduce stress. Dopamine is another chemical released which helps with motivation and pleasure. Whether music is listened to or is being played by an instrument, it is known to improve your testing, brain connection, IQ levels, and so much more.

What type of music is known to reduce stress?

Sounds of nature including rain and thunder, light jazz, or classical, and many others vary upon the listener. When listening to music that is slower, it actually quiets and relaxes the brain.

Music also activates memory regions which allow us to pick up on beats. For instance, sometimes people with Alzheimer’s or Dementia can pick up on songs like “Happy Birthday” because it has been known to them since infancy. This song would also be considered a long term song. Those suffering with memory problems or cognitive decline, music helps protect it compared to other activities.

Music can be used as a therapeutic tool to manage your stress and anxiety by listening to it, creating it, or playing an instrument.