#WorldMusicDay: Songs Make You Healthier, Not Just Yoga

A group of musicians in a performance. (Photo: Twitter @USEmbassyNepal)

21 June is World Music Day, which is reason enough to turn up the volume on your speakers to “annoy” your neighbours.

Listening to music– loudly or softly– has been proven to have many health benefits. So if Yoga is not your preferred path for a healthy lifestyle, maybe Music Day is more up your alley.

Daily Dose of Happiness

Along with food and sex, music can be added to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs given that all three of them release dopamine and cause happiness and pleasure.

Chills and goosebumps while listening to music are caused by dopamine, the feel-good chemical in our bodies.

Just the anticipation of good music can cause pleasure, according to Valorie Salimpoor, a neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal.

It Reduces Stress and Anxiety

Remember the last time you played your favourite song during periods of high stress and you felt relief wash over you?

Listening to music has been found to lower blood pressure, which reduces stress, anxiety, and depression. A study also found that during the course of a surgery, patients who listened to music, were administered lesser morphine following the surgery, because they experienced less pain and anxiety.

Exercise is Better with Music

That extra pump you feel while exercising to Eye of the Tiger is not you channeling your inner Rocky Balboa, but because it is music doing what it does best– making painful tasks less painful.

Music distracts you from feeling pain and fatigue, elevates your mood, increases endurance and even reduces perceived effort. The most popular genres of music among young-adults were found to be hip hop (27.7%), rock (24%), pop (20.3%), given that higher bpm serves as a motivating factor.

You Sleep Better When You Listen to Music

When you’re unable to sleep at night, chances are that you are either an insomniac or heart-broken (or your afternoon siesta was too long).

Researchers have found that listening to classical music – which is more soothing than other genres – for 45 minutes before bed helped people fall asleep more easily. Symptoms of depression experienced by insomniacs were also reduced when music was played.

Helps in Assimilating New Information

Contrary to popular belief, listening to music while doing something else does not lead to distraction. Music has been found to help in the assimilation of information.

While trying to remember something, if you sing it out as opposed to saying it, you will recall the version you sang better. Listening to songs while trying to make note of new information also aids faster recall.

All those times you remembered song lyrics instead of your exam notes don’t seem so mysterious now, do they?