A lot of studies show that music has a vast impact on your behavior and mood. No matter what genre of music you are into, you may agree that music makes your life better.
Here are seven scientifically proven ways music can improve your life:
1. It can make you relax and reduce stress levels
A lot of people turn to relaxing music instinctively when they are stressed. However, research shows that music can actually help with stress. A research backs up that particularly slow classical music is really good to relieve stress. One study also proved that it is much better when it comes to dealing with anxiety than anti-anxiety medication.
It was discovered through blood pressure readings that listening to jazz or pop music has a similar rejuvenating effect as absolute silence.
2. It can pump you up for your workout
Do you feel that you perform better while listening to music when you work out? It is probably because you do. A research shows that your endurance can increase by 15% if you listen to music. This means you can last much longer if you listen to music while you work out. According to a Norwegian study, classical music is the best while spinning to improve endurance. The continuity of classical music improves focus, according to a theory, allowing you to persist for an extended amount of time.
However, a different study suggests that the music’s speed (bpm) matters more than the genre. It states that the optimal speed for an improved performance would be between 125 bpm to 140 bpm.
Additionally, studies show that music can help reduce pain. Preferred music can also significantly improve the tolerance and increase the perceived control over the pain. It also effectively decreases anxiety the most as compared to absolute silence and visual distraction.
3. It can improve both your mental and physical health
Research suggests that music releases the feel-good chemical called dopamine which is associated with the pleasure of eating or having sex. This can particularly be good if you are on a diet, indulge in music instead of eating food to satisfy your cravings.
Another finding proves that music has the ability to improve the immune system of the body and reduce the levels of stress.
4. It can improve your overall mood
According to SoundChime.com music can impact your mood drastically by making you feel sad, happy or even excited depending on what you are listening to.
As mentioned previously, music can have a good effect on your mental health as it releases the feel-good chemical known as dopamine. This chemical makes you feel positive emotions like joy, excitement, happiness etc. You get a similar sense of happiness listening to your favorite music as you would get from having sex, eating your favorite food, or even certain drugs.
A study also proves that people feel happier while listening to quick tempo music played in a major key whereas music played in the minor key with a slow tempo can influence sad emotions.
5. It can improve your verbal skills and visual skills
A lot of studies prove that learning music as a kid can stimulate your brain in numerous ways which in turn improves the communications, visual and verbal skills of the child.
Children under age 4 to 6 were subjected to musical education for a study which involved training in voice, melody, pitch, rhythm and general musical concepts. It was observed that this resulted in the children being able to comprehend words and describe their meaning much better.
Another study discovered that children between the ages of 8 to 11 who took extra-curricular music classes had an increased visual ability and developed greater verbal IQ as compared to their counterparts who did not take the music classes.
6. It can improve your IQ
A lot of studies show that learning a musical instrument can improve your IQ by up to seven points. And let’s be honest, that is not even the main benefit of learning an instrument. You also enjoy the appreciation people have for someone who knows how to play an instrument as well as the pleasure of being good at something. Even if you did not learn to play an instrument as a kid, there is still time. Pick your favorite instrument and start learning.
Another research suggests that classical music has the ability to increase brainpower. The related study involved two sets of students listening to 15 minutes of lecture. One version enhanced by music whereas the other version was free of music.
After hearing the lecture, they were made to answer a multiple-choice questionnaire related to the lecture they heard. It was found out that the set of students who were made to listen to the music-enhanced version of the lecture performed much better in the quiz than the set of students who heard the version of lecture without any music.
7. It can enhance your memory
As mentioned previously, music can help develop various areas of the brain. Similarly, it can also help improve your memory. So if you are someone who often forgets things and has a weak memory, you should probably consider learning an instrument.
While no one has yet established the reason behind why music has this impact on us but it would be safe to say that everyone can attest that listening to music improves their lives in a lot of ways.