With the recent death of world renowned music legend Jagjit Singh, South Asians are reminiscing about their favorite songs, thinking about the first time they heard it or how it makes them feel. Music has played a significant role in South Asian history, being a source of storytelling and lessons learned thousands of years ago to now being a type of entertainment.
Researchers have been studying the effect of music and mental health for years and recently found that listening to music can significantly improve mental health, especially stress and other experiences that activate the stress system. Specifically, they have found that music exposure can activate a system in the hypothalamus – a region of the brain associated with emotion and memory. This activation behaves like protective factor for the neurons against the damaging effects of stress. It calms the stress levels in the brain, giving your mind and body a rest from always being alert and hypervigilant which often happens when we experience chronic stress.
Stress can come from work, academic pressure, family troubles or relationship issues. However, our minds and bodies also experience stress when we are depressed, highly anxious, grieving a loss, experiencing physical ailments or going through chronic pain. Research has shown that listening to music can actually have anti-depressive effects, lower anxiety and even lessen the experience of pain.
While there is debate on if there only one specific type of music has this positive emotional effect, most researchers agree that quiet, classical music creates a very noticeable change on our bodies. Music with wind and string instruments, such as flutes and guitars respectively, are considered more soothing to our bodies. This type of music tends to slow our pulse and heart rate, lowers blood pressure and decreases stress hormones significantly.
Music also improves learning and memory, two skills that are often negatively affected when we are stressed. Known as the “Mozart Effect”, researchers have found that listening to music with 60 beats per minute activate both hemispheres of the brain which maximizes learning and information retention. This explains why any activities that engage both sides of the brain, such as playing an instrument, have been credited for making people “smarter”. Engaging both sides of the brain significantly increases your information processing capabilities.
Music therapy, a new form of treatment for emotional health issues, has been an increasingly popular choice for people living with depression, anxiety or chronic health issues. Music therapy, which is conducted by a professional, helps facilitate recovery from emotional health issues by teaching the brain to relax and helping patients identify and express feelings associated with stress. In fact, India has started a major movement for music therapy as a way to address mental health issues that are so often ignored in the community.
Stress has multiple sources, from physical ailments and chronic pain to avoided emotional issues and financial troubles. Regardless of why we are stressed, we tend to forget to play music, sometimes believing it will not work, other times being so caught up in our stress that we forget it as a resource. The next time that you feel stressed, find a type of music that soothes you. If you aren’t sure where to begin, try your hand at classical music and see how you feel.
What type of music helps you calm down?