“Is music your way to escape from reality? Is music a way to calm your nerves?”
Most of us listen to music as a hobby or as a way to escape from reality. Let us understand what music is, not talking about mentioning any theoretical concept, just a layman's concept from me to you, my dear readers.
Coming from a layman’s concept, music is the most natural form of therapy as it doesn’t force any foreign substance into the bloodstream that would result in serious after effects. Music to me is a set of sound waves that differ in decibels that influence the nerves in the brain region which in turn influence the high release of dopamine (a neurotransmitter that controls the mood).
Physiological implications of listening to music
“We've found compelling evidence that musical interventions can play a health-care role in settings ranging from operating rooms to family clinics," (Novotney, 2013)
There was a research that was mentioned in the book “This is Your Brain on Music” by Levitin (Plume/Penguin, 2007) which talked about the influence of music on the cells which was the production of antibody immunoglobulin A & natural killer cells - these were cells that attacked foreign viruses & help in boosting the immune system. It was also suggested that music helps in the reduction of the stress hormone cortisol.
Another study conducted on patients in the pediatric emergency room (JAMA Pediatrics, 2013) talked about patients who ranged from 3 -11 where the children who were getting IVs reported that there was a significant reduction in pain as they were listening to music & also displayed less distress.
Psychological implications of listening to music
As stated previously, listening to music can have both physiological & psychological benefits. At the beginning of this blog, we began with the question if this mode of therapy was valid or not. Nearing the end we come to the most important part of this blog which is the psychological aspect.
Listening to music can aid in the improvement of the following :
Improvement in cognitive performance - research suggested that music playing in the background can help the person perform well in cognitive tasks. It's been also studied that downbeat or slow music can help in the process of learning.
Improvement in the reduction of stress - a study conducted in 2013, suggested that when the experimenter provided the stress to the subject music was able to calm them down as it made them feel relaxed. The way they could calm themselves down was by listening to rain sounds or lo-fi music. It's been observed that this kind of music has an impact on the autonomic nervous system.
Improvement in sleep pattern - A very common approach to music therapy is aiding the improvement in sleep patterns. Many patients who reported having insomnia, took the help of nocturnal beats which helped them sleep. A study was conducted that suggested that college students who listened to music before going to bed were able to sleep better than those who listened to an audiobook.
So what did you learn today?
You got to learn about the facts, the facts that now prove that music therapy is a valid form of therapy in helping those going through psychological distress. It’s not required that one form of therapy will be helpful for all, it’s subjective. But we must keep in mind that music helps in reaching the deepest part of our brain which aids in helping us out in many different ways.
Also you got to learn how important music is in your life, you got to learn how it unconsciously helps you just in case you are going through some psychological distress.
References
Brown, A. (2021, May 25). How Listening to Music Can Have Psychological Benefits. https://www.drinkarepa.com/blogs/mindful-blog/how-listening-to-music-can-have-psychological-benefits
Novotney, A. (2013). Music as medicine.
Https://Www.apa.org. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/11/music#:~:text=The%20 researchers%20found%20that%20 listening,of%20the%20 stress%20hormone%20cortisol.
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