How Music Can Help You Sleep Better
Besides being fun, learning and playing a musical instrument can have many positive effects on your health and mental wellness. Rather than distracting college students, a Stanford study found that music moves the brain to pay attention.†Researchers utilized musical compositions from the 1800s in their study and found that music engages the areas of the brain involved with paying attention, making predictions and updating the event in memory†(Baker).
At Lund University, researchers found that people listening to their preferred music performed much better than those listening to non-preferred music. Some patients who typically have a hard time sharing or discussing emotional content are better able to open up and share,†she says, adding that music may help relax people enough to open up about painful issues.
Research at the University of Helsinki showed that stroke patients who listened to music they chose themselves for two hours a day had significantly improved recovery of cognitive function compared to those who listened to audio books or were given no listening material.18 Most of the music contained lyrics, which suggests that it's the combination of music and voice that bolstered the patients' auditory and verbal memory.
Listening to soothing music that relaxes your body and elevates your mind can significantly reduce how much stress you feel. It helps us when things are tough, and it makes the good times feel even better. Anyone who listens to music knows that it puts you in a good mood, especially when it's your favorite music.
At the same time it relieves anxiety, music also stimulates the immune system and provides an outlet for emotional release, relaxing music for stress relief which may help explain why studies show music is effective in improving pain in a range of conditions and circumstances, in both children and adults.
For a long time, it is a well-known fact that music helps to sooth the body and mind. Up-tempo, fast-paced music gets your brain and body moving, making you amped up and motivated to enjoy what's ahead. Typically, the team collaborated with the music producer to create the song Weightless to be used as sound therapy.
It can lead to an improved ability to function properly, meaning that you can try to live your life as normally as possible once the music therapy starts to kick in. But just because music has a measurable effect on our brains and bodies, it does not mean that one piece of music can be prescribed, like a pill, to promote relaxation for everyone.