The Power Of Music To Reduce Stress
Let's understand the meaning and the equation of healing in a broader way.
What is Music?
It's an art arranging sounds in time through the elements of melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre.
What is stress?
It is the type of change that causes physical, emotional, or psychological strain. Medical Sciences defines stress as a well-known risk factor for the onset and progression of a range of physical and emotional problems such as anxiety, cardiovascular disease, certain disorders and so on which a person may develop either for short term or long term.
Music heals stress
Music is an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms. Music has been there in some form or the other when the world started and the development of music evolves from historical times till the present.
Listening to music can have a tremendously relaxing effect on the mind and body. The ongoing fast-changing world, ongoing competition, industrialization, and many more things contribute to stress for all: resulting in confusion, pressure, and mental health issues. It is here, where music turns out to be a cure as it decreases the levels of stress hormones, it impacts pulse rate, blood pressure levels thus contributing to the physiological wellness of a person. Various brain scan reports indicated that when a person is in pain, listening to music gives a push in the activity of the brain and it starts forgetting the pain and focuses more on the music being played rather than dealing with pain nerves.
Music lifts up a person’s mood just like a tonic
I have even experienced this multiple times. Whenever one feels lonely music becomes the best companion. We see that while doing meditation, while in Gym or doing any exercise music is played at background and reason is the change of focus, state of mind and that is when a human being feels relaxed and the times we feel depressed and confused listening to music become immediate medicine. No doubt, music provides relief, even when no medication can/ to movement, to speech, to life.
Music as a Therapy to reduce stress
In an interaction with a group of students, professionals, and corporates on asking about the impact of music on their life and also if they believe that music works as a therapy?
The answer was yes. Students mentioned that for maximum concentration while studying they refer to music, professionals mentioned that while making crucial decisions, in their lifestyle they had time to listen to music although choice varies as some like slow and soft music, some like classical and others like pop music.
Music therapy now is one of the interventions being used by both medical and health care units.
Nevertheless, it's been distinguished by either personally tailored, qualified techniques, various instruments, and so on and it does vary from nation to nation, place to place as well.
To cope up with stress and related issues
In relation to demands of the society, millions of people all over the universe depend upon tranquilizing medications and as a result face lots of negative consequences and whereas it's here where music therapy proves. response matters as in some situations results are fast and in some, it might take a while but then no one suffers from side effects, like that of other medications.
One reason why our medical sciences now have a music therapist is that music has time in again proven to be a healer. This career is taking fast track growth. Proving that no longer music is just a source of entertainment instead it's now a requirement.
More specifically during music therapy sessions, unique qualities of music i.e. melody, rhythm, tempo, dynamics, pitch, etc. are used to access emotions, memories and to address social experience or influence the behavior. A music therapist will connect to the stressed patient, seek his or her attention, and provide a way to come out. Music heals and touches people where medication may not work. It's an incredible and powerful healing agent.
A person suffering from stress undergo multiple confusions, fails to understand what is wrong any move deeper into emotional issues. But being connected with music means to divert the stress, beats can stimulate brain waves to work with rhythm, bringing in faster change, building cognitive thinking, sharper concentration, and most importantly promoting a calm state of mind. By changing the pattern of brainwaves, bodily functions change. All these are directed linked to the nervous system. Music creates a source of calmness and peace. In turn, reducing anxiety and stress levels. Music inculcates creativity and a positive approach, positive thinking and gives a push to people to recover fast. Many studies and profound research have established music as in healing agent to stress.
Conclusion:
Before I conclude I would also like to mention that music has a unique presence in our daily life too. The birds chirping, the sound of the breeze, the falling of rain, the sound of the waves all are music created by nature. All these have such a therapeutic effect on our daily life and are often a cause of a smile.
Not only because of healing ability but music is important in the education system too. It naturally builds our grasping power and learning abilities. Music adds dimensions and different perspectives to thought processes and apart from having the therapeutic healing effect it has an effect of wholesomeness. Meditation is practiced in cultures all over the world and is done majorly with music resulting in balanced energy flow and focus and offering positive affirmations.
About the Author -
Founder, Musical Dreams
