While we mostly just do it for entertainment purposes, there are actually many health benefits that come with listening to music. Nobody usually thinks of these benefits, but it can be important to point them out so we can get an understanding as to why we’re drawn to music. Obviously listening to music won’t prevent diabetes or cure cancer, but the little things are what count over a period of time. These are things you will gain by listening to music.
Benefits Of Listening To Music
1. Reducing Levels of Stress
Probably the biggest and most prominent benefit of listening to music is the fact that it will reduce your stress levels. It’s become very common knowledge at this point that stress is one of the biggest contributors to death globally in 2018. It usually doesn’t directly hurt people, but through further illness like insomnia or an eating disorder, stress can cause a major negative impact in your life. Music helps by relaxing your brain and placing you in a calmer state, thus slowly eliminating stress.
Music is also great at getting your mind off of whatever it is that’s causing you stress. It works at both a conscious and unconscious level and over a period of time, music certainly has a lasting effect on your brain.
2. Increasing Creativity
It’s no wonder that many creative people and inventors report being inspired by music before doing something great! Music is known activate the emotional side of our brain which is linked to creativity and innovation. This explains why music acts as a precursor for getting our minds activated and in the zone of creativity. Does this mean that you can be the next Mozart by listening to your favorite rapper? Probably not, but the right type of music in the right type of setting can do wonders for your brain.
3. Improves Cognition
This may come as a surprise to you, but music really can improve cognition and brain power. In fact, listening to music has been proven to slow the effects of dementia and alzheimer’s. Again, it’s imperative that we keep in mind that music itself isn’t the cure-all secret that we’ve been looking for. It is simply an activity we enjoy doing that also adds many benefits, with one of them being the improvement of cognition. It may not raise your IQ at all, but music does stimulate your brain in a way that might temporarily increase your efficiency and productivity.
Certain types of music will also always have different types of effects on your mind and body. Rap or hip-hop music is often listened to by people when working out as a way to get motivated and pumped up. People may listen to classical music when seeking a feeling of relaxation and possibly concentration. We like to think that we listen to music as a leisurely activity, but some of us actually depend on music to keep us going.
4. Music Makes You Happy
This effect varies from person to person and depending on what kind of music you listen to, but in general its true. Listening to music does in fact make you a happier individual, especially during low moments and moments in which we are seeking happiness. It is also great to listen to music because it provides you with a ‘natural high’ and (hopefully) prevents you from seeking the same feeling in other ways.
5. Can Reduce Pain and Fear
When it comes to surgery, fear is a big component to patients before entering the room. By listening to music, and individual is able to relax themselves and enter a different mood. They can lower their heart rate and enter their procedure with a little bit less fear than they originally would have. Because of this, it has become very common for patients to listen to music before entering their surgery room.
If that wasn’t enough, listening to music can also potentially raise your threshold for pain and reduce your sensation of it in certain instances. Again it works by shifting your focus elsewhere and using up your brain for the processing of music rather than pain. You won’t be superman, but every little bit helps.
6. Improves Your Social Intelligence
The most underrated benefit of listening to music is that it will help you with increasing your social intelligence. Music, like people is always changing. It is always updating itself to fit our current culture and to make certain that it is deemed favorably by the public. Listening to music can help you understand the problems that other people deal with along with educating you on topics you may not be aware of.
For example, a love song can help improve your perspective and bring you to realize why a certain relationship may not work out. A song about success can put the final piece to your puzzle and make you realize why you haven’t yet reached your definition of success.
The Verdict
You might have been led to believe that music is just another form of entertainment, like watching a tv show or going for a walk. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Music will help you in more ways than you’ll ever know and it is recommended by experts that we all listen to music to improve our cognition and help with a ton of other things. Next time you listen to music, remember that you’re doing yourself a favor!