Written by: Simon Sangat - 22019, Grade XII
Posted on: 23 February, 2022
Music is not just sounds having melody, rhythm, or harmony. Music is the expression of deep emotions and feelings. Studies have shown that music can lighten up your mood and even help escape depression. When we listen to music, a hormone called dopamine is released in our brain. Dopamine is generally responsible for happiness, satisfaction and pleasure.The human brain has evolved over 55,000 years of exposure to music to the point where the audio frequencies we encounter can produce precise and instant changes in our lives.
Music has the ability to quiet our minds, which is why most restaurants have soft music playing in the background so that customers can relax while eating. This marketing tactic results in profit since consumers who feel calm are more likely to spend more time in the restaurant, which means they will order more. Every civilization throughout human history has incorporated music into their daily life in some manner. Even tribes that were cut off from the rest of the world created their own tunes to express spirituality, mark the occasion and cherish memories, and pass down traditions. Music has also been shown to promote intelligence and focus, improve mental health, strengthen the immune system, and boos
t self-esteem and confidence. It can be used to relax, improve concentration, or boost and brighten our mood. Music can also help with insomnia by encouraging and inducing a deeper slumber. Music also has the ability to induce strong emotional responses, such as goosebumps and thrills. Pleasant music may cause the release of pleasure neurotransmitters like dopamine. Music is an easy method to change your mood or reduce tension. After a severe injury, music can help to restore some of the brain's cognitive, sensory, and motor functions. Music has a much greater impact on us than simply putting us in a good mood. Music does everything from energizing our mind to easing stress, evoking emotions, and soothing your soul.
The temporal lobe is critical in evoking emotional reactions from music as it processes what we hear across both the left and right hemispheres of the brain. The left hemisphere processes words, while the right hemisphere processes music. We use both hemispheres whether we're listening to songs with words or not, and it's often the lyrics that trigger the emotional reaction much more than the melody and harmony.
So music promotes well-being, enhances learning, stimulates cognitive function, improves quality of life, and even induces happiness.This is, because music can activate almost all brain regions and networks, it can help to keep our brain networks strong, including those networks that are involved in well-being, learning, cognitive function, and happiness. Even when it comes to brain development, music can be beneficial. Playing an instrument, for example, is believed to enhance gray matter volume in specific parts of the brain. Certain music may take you back decades in a heartbeat. It is because music-related memories are emotional memories that never fade away. Music stimulates emotion, and emotion can trigger memories. It provides a sense of life when nothing else can. Music is one of the few things in the world that engages the full brain rather than just a part of it. It provides us with strong coping mechanisms and shapes the way we perceive the world around us.
Music therapy has been found to be an effective therapy for a variety of disorders, like depression. Music therapy was proven to be a reliable method to improve depression and anxiety in patients with neurological disorders such as dementia, strokes, and Parkinson's disease. While music can have a mood-altering effect, the genre of music is equally essential. Classical and meditation music have the most positive effects on mood, whereas heavy metal songs help process anger and frustration.
Music's psychological impacts can be extremely profound. Music therapy is a treatment that is occasionally used to improve emotional health, stress management, and psychological well-being. According to several studies, our musical preferences provide information about many characteristics of our personality. According to one study, listening to more upbeat music improved processing speed, while listening to both upbeat and downbeat music improved memory.In a nutshell, music has remarkable power to increase overall brain functioning ,communication and emotional stability.
Michel Jackson once said “ To live is to be musical, starting with blood dancing on your veins. Everything living has a rhythm.”
