Relationships June 19, 2018
How music improves mood.
Every day we wake up, put on our best faces and go out into a world full of obstacles that we must overcome.
We can probably all relate to the Cage the Elephant lyric that goes, “I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed, / There ain’t nothing in this world for free,” because most of us need to work so hard just to barely scrape by.
And with our absurdly long commute, nine to five job and student loan debt, it’s no wonder that depression is one of the most common mental illnesses. To make matters worse, there’s a growing stigma behind mental health issues that are leaving many unemployed.
This rings true especially for women, who are twice as likely to experience mental health issues than men. While the conversation around mental health is growing more positive, we need a way to solve our issues now.
The answer? Music.
For us music lovers, we’re fully aware of just how good songs make us feel. We feel the changes in our mood. We know that music is powerful.
But it’s not just speculation. Music is scientifically proven to reduce anxiety and depression. When we listen to music, our brains are better able to process emotions. By processing these emotions, we confront them so they can’t sneak up on us later in our hectic and often unstable lives. Ultimately, we’re happier.
And with Spotify, iTunes and Amazon music, there’s no excuse not to take advantage of the never-ending library available to us. But if you aren’t convinced, here are 3 reasons why music can help get you out of a rut.
When we listen to music, a chemical in our brain called dopamine gets instantly released.
Dopamine may sound like another complicated brain word, but its function is pretty simple. It’s essentially the reward system in your brain that controls our desires and urges. When we eat food, drink or have sex, among other things, dopamine is released as a reward in our brain. It’s necessary because, without it, we wouldn’t do many things necessary for our survival.
That same chemical release happens when we listen to music. It even changes our heart rate, breathing and temperature, and sometimes gives us chills.
Feeling down sucks, but dopamine helps. And since listening to music releases it, why not give it a try?
When we ignore our bodies, our minds follow suit.
The opposite happens when we actually pay attention to our physical needs. When we love our bodies, our mind catches up and our brain function improves. Psychiatry.org reports that music can help reduce the need for pain medication and can even lower the risk of stroke.
If you don’t want to pay for an expensive massage to relax, try flipping on some tunes instead.
One of the biggest problems we all face is the constant exposure to information.
Whether it’s on a screen, in a classroom or at the office, we are bombarded with loads of things that our brain has to process. It drains our energy and affects our mental health negatively. The information is most often important to remember, but we are slowed down because of how much we are given every single day.
Thankfully, listening to music is strongly linked to memory recall. We can use it to remember way more than we used to, and that constant brain exercise could help your mental health.
We all try to put our best foot forward every day, but we can’t always be happy. And although those feelings come and go, sometimes they stick with us for a long time and turn into a serious mental health problem.
By listening to music, we can combat those feelings. So when that depression or anxiety hits us, just press play.
