However, music and sounds can also serve as a soundtrack for your activities. You can sit in stillness and do nothing but listen to or create music or sounds to relax.
When to Use Music and Sounds for Stress Relief Another study-this one focused on cancer patients-concluded that singing can lower cortisol levels and improve mood through the release of endorphins. James Hudziak, professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, showed that playing an instrument helped children, ages 6 to 18, reduce feelings of anxiety and gain greater control over their emotions. When you play an instrument or sing, your body releases endorphins, which are the chemicals that make you feel happy.Ī study led by Dr. Just as much as listening to music or sounds can ease tension and help you to relax, so can making music yourself or with other people. Try out different songs and sounds to see what resonates. You’re the expert on what types of music and sounds reduce stress or evoke relaxation in you. If you’re feeling angry, you might find you need a few minutes with the heavily distorted guitars and aggressive, deep-growling vocals of death metal to work through your emotions so you can then feel a sense of release and relaxation afterward.
Will the song “Weightless”-or light jazz, Native American drumming, or rain and thunder sounds-significantly drop your anxiety levels? That’s for you to figure out. As it turns out, the song was created in collaboration with sound therapists who carefully arranged the harmonies, rhythms, and bass lines to help slow a listener's heart rate, reduce blood pressure, and lower the stress-hormone cortisol. The participants’ overall anxiety dropped by 65 percent as they listened to one particular song: “Weightless” by Marconi Union. The researchers measured brain activity and physiological states such as heart rate, blood pressure, and rate of breathing. Neuroscientists in the United Kingdom conducted a study that had participants connected to sensors try to quickly solve difficult, stress-inducing puzzles as they listened to different songs.
#Relax now music series
The participants received functional magnetic resonance imaging scans, which measure brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow, as they listened to a series of five-minute soundscapes of natural and manmade environments. Researchers at Brighton and Sussex Medical School did a sound study on 17 healthy adults.
You might notice that you feel anxiety due to the noise pollution, which is described as any unwanted or disturbing sounds.Įxcessive undesired noise can lead to a host of health issues, including stress and anxiety.Ĭonversely, naturalistic sounds, such as the ebb and flow of the ocean tide or leaves rustling in the wind, are reported as promoting relaxation. Just as music can impact mood and the nervous system, so can sounds of all kinds.įor example, have you ever tried to carry on a deep conversation with a friend in a busy coffee shop where baristas yell out drink orders, the espresso machine blares, patrons move screeching chairs across the floor, kids cry, and everyone around you tries to have conversations at competing volumes? It can be tough-and not just because you can’t hear what your friend is saying. Listening to music can switch the stress response to “off” and help your mind and emotions recover from stress faster than they would without music. If you feel threatened, your nervous system releases stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. Music connects with the automatic nervous system-brain function, blood pressure, and heartbeat-and the limbic system, where your feelings and emotions live. Tunes alone may not cure stress-related illnesses and conditions, but studies show that the benefits of music include soothing stress and encouraging relaxation. On the flip side, being in a state of relaxation can help counter all of these things-and more. Stress can either increase the risk of or exacerbate serious health issues like anxiety, asthma, depression, gastrointestinal problems, heart disease, and obesity. In recent decades, researchers have measured health-related advantages of music, particularly as they relate to stress reduction and relaxation induction. Music has been used for hundreds of years to restore harmony between mind and body.
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