We all love music – but why is it important to our health? Claire Muffett-Reece on its many physical and mental benefits
59% of people say music helped their mental health and wellbeing
(UK Music and Music for Dementia – Power of Music report)
Listening to live music is the second most popular arts activity in the UK
(Making Music)
Music reduces anxiety, blood pressure and pain as well as improve mood and memory
(Johns Hopkins Medicine)
“Pop on your favourite tune, be it classical, jazz, pop, rock or any other genre and it instantly makes you feel happy”
“If there’s one thing we all understand about music and how it improves our health it’s the fact that getting up and dancing to your favourite track is good for your body!”
“Music is also key when it comes to your mental wellbeing in a number of ways”
“Listening to music is also the perfect way to bring people together, strengthening the sense of belonging and connection with others”
Pop on your favourite tune, be it classical, jazz, pop, rock or any other genre and it instantly makes you feel happy; whether you choose to bop about your kitchen or sing along while working at your desk (at home, that is; your office colleagues won’t appreciate you interrupting their daily routine). Essential for our everyday life and all around the world, archaeological evidence suggests that we’ve been making and enjoying music for at least 40,000 years. But why does it have such an impact on how we feel when it comes to our health and wellbeing? Turn on the album you’ve always loved and read on for why we love music.
LET’S GET PHYSICAL
If there’s one thing we all understand about music and how it improves our health it’s the fact that getting up and dancing to your favourite track is good for your body! For a start there’s the calories you’ll use, with an average person burning between 300-800 an hour, depending on your weight and the intensity and style you choose. It also has the same health benefits as other forms of exercise such as running, with it also working to strengthen muscles, increase aerobic fitness levels and even improving your balance and spatial awareness. Then there’s the fact it reduces the risk of osteoporosis, with exercise such as dancing to music lowering the rate of bone loss, conserving bone tissues and reducing the risk of fractures in the process. It’s even been linked to a 46% reduced risk of stroke or heart attack – plus studies also show that listening to music during exercise can reduce a perceived effort by up to 10%.
THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS
Music is also key when it comes to your mental wellbeing in a number of ways. Feeling down? Music can help; with a study showing that people who listened to calming music for just 30 minutes a day said they felt less anxious. There’s even research showing that undergoing surgery and listening to calming music at the same time reduces stress levels, leading to them needing less pain medication compared to those that didn’t. Then there’s the type of music you listen to, with happy, upbeat music producing chemicals like dopamine and serotonin – those natural mood-boosters – whereas calming music relaxes both body and mind. It’s also a powerful tool for emotional expression and regulation, helping you to process feelings of joy, sadness or anger that you’d otherwise find hard to process. And don’t forget about how music improves confidence levels, too. Learning to play an instrument or a new song, for example, boosts a sense of accomplishment that reinforces self-worth, with music education structured in a way that builds success over time, creating more confidence in the process.
THINK ON
Want to improve your memory? It’s music to the rescue again; with it engaging a diverse network of brain regions and circuits, including sensory-motor processing, cognitive, memory, and emotional components. Those that struggle to focus on a particular task also benefit from listening to music, allowing your mind to filter out distractions and operate better without interruption. Someone in your family – or you – ready to raise that academic performance? There’s research out there that highlights the importance of music, with the ‘Mozart Effect’ showing that students who listened to a piano sonata scored higher on a spatial reasoning test compared to those who didn’t. Studies have also shown that when compared to a quiet environment, both instrumental and vocal music as background noise significantly boosts creativity. But what’s the best type to listen to when it comes to concentrating? It of course varies on your preference, but research shows classical improves accuracy and speed, sounds of nature have a soothing effect, songs with minimal lyrics and steady beat help create a rhythm for work, while sounds associated with meditation are ideal for deep focus.
AND RELAX
Listening to music is also beneficial when it comes to relaxation, and even more so after you’ve encountered a stressful situation. Physical-wise, a slower tempo’s been shown to relax your muscles, as well lowering cortisol – the human stress hormone – regardless of whether you choose classic or even heavy metal, both of which have been proven to lower your blood pressure. However, relaxing music also reduces chronic inflammation; a major contributor to health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Listening to relaxing music has even been shown to reduce inflammation in the body, potentially lowering the risk of these and other chronic diseases. Ready to hit the hay and get a good night’s rest? Again, you can turn to music to help, which can decrease the time it takes to fall asleep and improve sleep quality – just try falling asleep to music that is relaxing or slower, around 60 to 80 beats per minute. Ever thought that music was just played at a funeral for entering and exiting, as well as listening to a late loved one’s choice of favourite tunes? Of course that’s part of the event, but music also creates moments of connection and reflection, allowing you to release emotions, aiding in relaxing you while you mourn.
ALL TOGETHER NOW
Listening to music is also the perfect way to bring people together, strengthening the sense of belonging and connection with others. It’s the ideal time to bond more, with families that listen to music together forming better bonds (42%) and are less likely to argue (32%). A heightened sense of trust can also be gained from music, which stems from a theory that during evolution, human groups who were musical worked better together, and therefore may have offered an advantage for survival. Culture, here, also plays a key in social interaction when it comes to music, both in bringing people together in one particular culture as well as learning more if you’re not as familiar, in turn benefitting from an increased appreciation and understanding of others. It also further promotes shared emotions through music and promotes bonding over a shared experience. Even the way you dance to music helps a feeling of belonging: one study revealed that dancing in rhythm with others significantly raised the participants’ feelings of social bonding. Come on now, get on those dancing shoes and turn up the music!
