The world is fast paced nowadays and the need to manage stress or anxiety is understandable. Things often get complicated or difficult at school, college, universities, workplace, and even at homes. People try to use varying techniques or tips to calm their nerves. Sound therapies are being used for relaxation and improvement of health conditions for so long (Curtin). Listening to music deeply affect our emotions and body. The soothing power of music is widely used for stress management. The relaxing nature of slow music profoundly affect our physiological functions by making pulse and heart rate low, decreasing blood pressure and reducing the release of stress hormones (Collingwood). Music therapy is commonly used to assist in healing and to bring improvement in the emotional well-being of the person (Tams). This paper will highlight how listening to music can help in reducing stress and anxiety.
Listening to music has been considered as positively impacting health through its stress reducing effects. The study was conducted, in this regard, to investigate effects of relaxing music on autonomic, endocrine, emotional and cognitive aspects of the human stress response. The results demonstrated that psychobiological system of stress was affected by listening to music. Prior to introduction of standardized stressor, listening to music had profoundly impacted the autonomic nervous system in the form of fast recovery. Whereas, the extent of effect on psychological and endocrine response system is less than on autonomic nervous system. The study suggests that listening to music positively impact human body (Thoma et al.).
Anxiety can be reduced if a person is exposed to music. A study was carried out to examine the impact of music listening on the physiological responses and anxiety levels of patients undergoing awake craniotomy. The findings of this study indicated that the levels of anxiety of patients were significantly decreased after listening to music. Furthermore, there was significant decrease in the diastolic pressure, systolic pressure and rate of heart beat after introducing music intervention. The study concluded that listening to music is linked with reduced level of distress and anxiety (Wu). Another evidence comes from the systematic literature review conducted by Lee. The study examined how music is involved in reducing anxiety and dosage of sedatives used for patients undergoing surgery. The results showed that music predominantly reduce anxiety and stress levels which in turn decreases the amount of sedatives required for patients for anesthesia in surgeries. The findings depict that music is now being used as an alternative for decreasing the dosages of sedatives during surgery.
Mood disorders are the outcome of several neurological diseases. The role of music in reducing the symptoms of mood disorders in neurological patients was explored through systematic literature review. The results indicated that music therapy and different musical interventions are effective in lowering the symptoms of mood disorders or depressive syndromes and in improving the overall quality of life in patients of neurological disorders (Raglio et al.). Music listening has become the most common activity of leisure time. Music is regarded as the universal partner to people in their everyday lives. A qualitative study investigating the reason behind music listening pointed out three domains which motivated people to include music in their lives. People adopted music listening to regulate their mood and arousal, to enhance awareness about self and to express their social relatedness. The study considered first two domains more critical than the third one which indicated that people actively use music to enhance their mood (Schafer et al.).
Several studies have supported the association between reduced stress and music but the studies have ignored the time factor in this relationship. A study was designed to explore the underlying temporal dimension in relation between music and stress by evaluating objective and subjective data about music used in daily life. The findings revealed that self-reports were linked with decreased reports of stress whereas data which was objectively measured failed to support the association between lower stress and music. Furthermore, association between reduced stress reports and at least 20 min of listening to music was supported by both objective and subjective data. The study clearly revealed that duration of time is important factor in the relationship between stress reports and music (Linnemann et al.).
Music therapy is effective for number of patients suffering from various diseases. Systematic literature review conducted to explore the efficacy of music therapy showed that music therapy intervention resulted in the improvement of social and global functioning of patients of schizophrenia, way of walking of patients of Parkinson’s disease, symptoms related to depression and overall sleep quality of people. Moreover, no harmful effects of music therapy were identified in any patient (Kamioka).
Conclusion
Conclusively, it is stated that music has healing effect on the human body and mind. The benefits of music therapy or interventions include reducing stress and anxiety, improving mood, decreasing the release of stress hormones, lowering heart rate, decreasing systolic and diastolic pressure, boosting social functioning of schizophrenic patients, improving walking patterns of Parkinson’s patients, and enhancing overall quality of life and quality of sleep of the people. Certain factors such as time is critical in determining the effect of music on emotional well-being. Literature has clearly demonstrated that music therapy does not affect patients negatively. Future studies need to identify the underlying factors which can make music interventions more effective for people.
Works Cited
Collingwood, Jane. “The Power of Music to Reduce Stress”. PsychCentral, 2018, https://psychcentral.com/lib/the-power-of-music-to-reduce-stress/. Accessed 16 October. 2018.
Curtin, Melanie. “Neuroscience Says Listening to this Song Reduces Anxiety by Upto 65 Percent.” May. 2017, https://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/neuroscience-says-listening-to-this-one-song-reduces-anxiety-by-up-to-65-percent.html. Accessed 16 October. 2018.
Kamioka, Hiroharu, et al. "Effectiveness of Music Therapy: a Summary of Systematic Reviews based on Randomized Controlled Trials of Music Interventions." Patient Preference and Adherence, no. 8, 2014, p. 727.
Lee, Jeremy Kay Hock. "How Music Reduces Anxiety and Amount of Sedatives used in Patients during Surgery." Journal of Anesthesia and Surgery, no.5, 2018, pp. 52-56.
Linnemann, Alexandra, et al. "Music Listening and Stress in Daily Life—a Matter of Timing." International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, no. 25, 2018, pp. 223-230.
Raglio, Alfredo, et al. "Effects of Music and Music therapy on Mood in Neurological Patients." World Journal of Psychiatry, no.5, 2015, p. 68.
Schafer, Thomas, et al. "The Psychological Functions of Music Listening." Frontiers in Psychology, no. 4, 2013, p. 511.
Tams, Lisa. “The Role of Music in Stress Management.” http://www.canr.msu.edu/news/the_role_of_music_in_stress_management. Accessed 16 October. 2018.
Thoma, Myriam V., et al. "The Effect of Music on the Human Stress Response." PloS one, no.8, 2013, e70156.
Wu, Pao-Yuan, et al. "Effects of Music Listening on Anxiety and Physiological Responses in Patients Undergoing Awake Craniotomy." Complementary Therapies in Medicine, no. 32, 2017, pp. 56-60.
