Music and Mental Health

 

There is music all around you. In stores, elevators, movie soundtracks, video games, and more. The music is playing, but often you don’t hear it. Your mind does, but you don’t pay attention. Sometimes, you even listen to your own playlists or music services without really knowing what you are listening to. Music can impact our mood for better or for worse. The question is, can you hear the music? Do you know what you are listening to?

You pay attention to what you put into your body when it comes to food. Many people read the labels on the products they use for cosmetics and grooming to see if they are healthy or not. You probably pay attention to the over the counter and prescription medications that you put into your body, because you want to know what is going in your body and how it will affect you. But how often to do you pay attention to the music that is going into your mind? Do you know how that music is going to affect you?

You have probably noticed at some point that listening to your favorite music puts you in a good mood. Music can put a smile on your face, maybe even make you feel like dancing. Or perhaps you have noticed that if there is music you specifically don’t like, it can make you irritable, or want to turn it off or get away from it. Those are ways that music can impact your emotions and your current mood, how you feel in the moment.

According to a new report from the Global Council on Brain Health (GCBH), an AARP-founded working group of scientists, health care professionals and other experts. Their latest report, “Music on Our Minds,” highlights research showing music's positive effect on emotional well-being, including improving mood, decreasing anxiety, and managing stress.

"There are so many mechanisms that explain the powerful impact that listening to a piece of music can have,” says report contributor Suzanne Hanser, president of the International Association for Music & Medicine (IAMM) and a professor of music therapy at Berklee College of Music.

Research shows that music can have a beneficial effect on brain chemicals such as dopamine, which is linked to feelings of pleasure, and oxytocin, the so-called “love hormone.” And there is moderate evidence that music can help lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

If you are unhappy, try listening to or making music to improve your mood or relieve feelings of depression.

Dance, sing or move to music. These activities not only provide physical exercise, but they can also relieve stress and build social connections — and they're fun ways to stimulate your brain.

While listening to music that you know and like tends to cause the strongest brain response and dopamine release, try listening to new music. Unfamiliar melodies may stimulate your brain, while providing a new source of pleasure as you get used to hearing them.

Make music yourself! Music making includes singing and playing an instrument. Learning to play a musical instrument can offer a sense of mastery and self-esteem, while enhancing brain activity. Singing may be the simplest way to get started.

Music, with its many positive effects, can have some negative impacts on human behavior and emotions. I love listening to music, I mean, who doesn’t but we need to also look at the not-so-positive side of music.

At this point, you must be aware of the benefits of music as well as how music therapy can help in better psychological health. However, in these studies, it is recorded that not all music can have positive effects or can arouse pleasant emotions.

Listening to aggressive music or music with violent lyrics can induce feelings of hatred, and aggressiveness, and can also trigger the fight-or-flight response. These feelings are directed at others.

Another interesting result that this study produced was the reaction to one’s behavior. The participants reported feeling ashamed of their negative and aggressive reactions to music. This response suggests that music, in any way, is seen as a pleasant experience, and when there’s a negative reaction to music, it is automatically considered wrong.

Obviously, if you are feeling depressed already, it is unlikely that you are going to listen to music that is uplifting or happy. If you are experiencing anxiety, you are unlikely to choose soothing, relaxing music, because that is the opposite of how you are feeling. You are more likely to choose music that matches where you are at emotionally. If you are already in a negative mindset, or worse, already depressed, you are more likely to choose music that you can emotionally relate to, music that brings you down harder. Human beings can be a little bit self-punishing that way.

Likewise, you can make conscious choices to improve your mood. There is research which shows that making choices of music that is more uplifting when you are depressed can improve your mood. Not just your emotional state at the time, but your actual mood. As in if you are depressed, you can improve your mood level, not just in that moment, but longer-term. Instead of reaching for all those angst or depressive songs when you are down, you can reach for music that has a better beat, happier lyrics, and help pull yourself out of the nosedive that is depression. Music can be very powerful.

Music, so ever-present in our lives, can influence how we perceive the world around us and the people around us. While music can help express our emotions that we can’t name, it can also trigger a response that is not-so-pleasant.

What you listen to matters a lot. What we choose to listen to can mean a lot. If you keep listening to music that produces emotions like melancholy, sadness, guilt, and similar strong emotions, then you’ll keep feeding your mind negativity.

Music can bring positivity to our lives but listening to music has negative effects that we should not ignore. Be mindful of what you listen to. There’s still more research needed to prove the negative effects of music. Your goal is to enjoy the music and bring positivity into your life and to those around you.

Always remember that music is a powerful weapon, and we need to know how to use it to our advantage.

- Yukta Gandhi