Music is an art form. Whether you are listening or playing, it can enhance your mental behavior. Not only can music be used for amusement, but also the therapy of the brain. Scientists have found clues about how our brain reacts to the music that we hear.
Apart from making us more confident and clear, music keeps us happy by regulating the unwanted anxieties that our mind accumulates. There are so many functions of music. The best function of it is to keep our minds healthy. Moreover, let us see how music changes our minds. How can music help in getting rid of worries that our daily hectic life thrusts us with?
Below mentioned are a few important ways in which music affects our brain. Music often affects people’s mind in both positive and negative ways:
Positive Effects of Music
- Music Improves Our Mood and Reduces Stress
Sometimes people find themselves a little upset and stressed because of some pressures in life. To get out of that situation, people take the help of music by listening to their favorite songs. Modern science has proven that one can easily enhance his/her mood by listening to music. Music works as a medicine for them who are supposed to have some stress in life. Listening to music reduces chronic stress by lowering the stress hormone cortisol.
Listening to music can also make you feel more powerful, hopeful and confident in life. Music can help you in a tough situation in life when you feel lonely or hurt. In that situation, sad music becomes the best option to purge the inner feelings and to get more refreshed. One of the ways through which music affects the human mind by forming some brain chemical that is neurotransmitter dopamine.
This chemical is called the brain’s motivation molecule which pleases our integral system of the mind. It is the chemical that provokes our mind and gives a sign to eat some tasty and sweet foods, gives a feeling of orgasm, etc. Music becomes more interesting when your favorite song starts playing unexpectedly. It triggers our minds and reduces our stressed minds.
If you are listening to music in a group or a live performance, the brain produces a hormone called oxytocin. This hormone helps us by making more generous, moody and trusty.
- Music Makes Us More Productive and Creative
Generally, it has been proven that when someone listens to music at his/her work, the person uses to work more happily and energetically. In this situation, music plays an important role in the life of that person. By listening to their favorite songs, the person will work more carefully and produce some of the great works.
Nowadays, many offices offer an option to choose your music. Science has developed this idea and has proven that a person in this situation will work more effectively and creatively. The background music also works as relaxing music and enhances the working performance. If a person does not feel comfortable in the study, by listening to music the person can study while enjoying the song. Suppose a person is indulged with painting and at the same time he listens to his most favorite song, then he can create a great piece of painting.
- Music Makes Us A Better Person
While listening to music, a person can engage his/her life helping others. There are several genres of music in this world. So, when a person likes and listens to some traditional, formal, motivational music, the behavior of that person gets better and improves. Some interesting studies have been done on this aspect which researchers refer to as “prosocial behaviors”. Some of the aspects of this behavior are empathy, kindness, generosity, and helpfulness. This prosocial effect of music can be observed in both adults and children.
This aspect of prosocial behaviors can also be found in restaurants. When the restaurant plays mesmerizing music and impresses the customers, the restaurant gets a bigger tip and good feedback. Same as in a shopping mall. When someone goes shopping in a mall and listens to some good music, the person gets happy and buys more things.
- Music Therapy Helps Alzheimer’s Patients
Music therapy has a great impact on the lives of patients suffering from a disease named Alzheimer’s disease. It can be treated with music. Alzheimer’s patients with advanced-stage lose their ability to interact and engage in conversations with others. They gradually stop speaking. Nothing else, but music therapy, has come out victorious in treating these patients.
The musical memories last for more time than other kinds of memories. When they come across some familiar music, patients often get rejuvenated and they would visibly light up and join the song. Music has helped the patients to alleviate depressions and agitations. It has helped also to improve brain function. Music, thus, improves the lifestyle.
A measurable amount of change in the neurotransmitter levels in Alzheimer’s patients has been observed. This is a good sign. The cause of it is music.
- Music Affects Each Brain Differently
The most famous as well as the most important question that one might ask is what is the best music to listen to? No one can answer because the best music depends. It depends on the listener. It depends on the purpose of listening also. The tunes along with the lyrics can damage your concentration of listened while doing some kind of new work. Whereas the same music can be found to be helpful while doing some repetitive mundane work.
Listening to the wrong music can worsen the situation. For instance, heavy metal music is not good for heart patients. One can benefit more if one listens to the music that one likes and enjoys. There is a dramatic thing in it. One person’s music can become the noise of someone else.
With the help of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), neuroscientists have observed that listening to music you like the most can increase blood flow to the brain more than listening to music you do not like. Your musical background and tastes would decide the area of the brain being affected. The best type of music increases the power to focus.
- Music Develops Our Memory Power
Listening to good music can develop memory power. Science has produced several types of music which helps the human mind to memorize things easily. For example, many people get difficulty in remembering the answers for the exam. So, when the person listens to background music while studying, the mind of that person will catch and understand the topic more easily and effectively.
Negative Effects of Music
- Music Can Distract Us While Driving
It is a negative effect of listening to music. According to a study which was done on teenagers and young adults who are addicted to driving, it has been seen that youngsters are very much negatively affected by music. In this experiment, drivers are tested with listening to their own choice of music and it has been seen that drivers are getting more distracted and doing more mistakes while driving.
- Music Harshly Affects Our Ears
We all know that we should not listen to music too loud, especially when we are playing through earphones. We are constantly reminded to watch out for our ears, by family members, friends and even by warnings that come upon many devices now. The trouble is though that many of us dismiss these warnings, we like our music to be loud enough to block out the sounds of public transport, busy streets, screaming children, etc. we think that it is the perfect escape. But music can be more harmful to our ears than you might think. So, we must think about this negative aspect of music.
Every time you listen to loud music, you damage the structure of your ear, and gradually this leads to hearing loss. You might think that poor hearing is a long way off, but even those in their teenage years have been found to struggle with hearing loss thanks to blasting loud music through their headphones.
- Music Affects Children’s Mind Negatively
As we all know that children get attracted more easily towards music than adults. But here a question arises why? This question is much important as well as its answer. For a long time, it has been seen that sexual imageries are getting much popular in any music industry. Many teenagers, mostly listen to music just to see the erotic and sensuous activities in the video. According to a survey in 2006, almost 1500 teens have been found who are heavily indulged in music just to get sensuous pleasure by looking at the girls. So, this is the reason why children’s mind is getting affected while listening to music.
The function of music as a successful therapy method for almost all kinds of mental disorders has led the world to a new level of medical experience that seems natural and profiting. Music plays a vital role in shaping mental health. We need to understand this fact through this article.