Why should you listen to music everyday?

From joyful car rides home, to intense workouts in the gym, or even the tunes that play in the movies and TV shows we frequently watch—we encounter music regularly. The catchy tunes of music drift to our listening ears around almost every street corner and everywhere we go. Although we know that we will encounter music everyday, do we understand how powerful music can be? Without realizing it, we witness the amazing effects of music in everyone we encounter throughout our busy life. Most people enjoy listening to music and often state that they cannot live without it. But why is that? Interestingly, aside from the general pleasures music brings, it also provides several health benefits of which many are unaware. Music has been proven to benefit health and provide emotional comfort, boost energy levels, and reduce stress.

Music should be a regular part of your life if you want to achieve a healthy lifestyle. Music is a cheap and virtually effortless way to that has been proven to benefit the body in many ways. “Researchers have shown that listening to just 45 minutes of relaxing music before bedtime can make for a restful night” (“How Music Affects Us and Promotes Health”). Relaxing music can aid the body in this way because it “can slow down and equalize brain waves” (“How Music Affects the Body”). Ordinary consciousness in the brain consists of beta waves, which vibrate from fourteen to twenty hertz. These beta waves occur when we focus on daily activities, as well as when we experience strong negative emotions. Heightened awareness and calm are characterized by alpha waves, which cycle from eight to thirteen hertz. Periods of peak creativity, meditation, and sleep are characterized by theta waves, from four to seven hertz, and deep sleep, deep meditation and unconsciousness produce delta waves, ranging to .5 to three hertz. The slower the brain waves, the more relaxed, contented and peaceful we feel. Listening to relaxing music can lower our brain waves to the intensity associated with sleep which helps in aiding in creating a peaceful atmosphere before bedtime to help improve the quality of sleep, which in turn helps the body function better and be well rested (“How Music Uplifts Your Mood.”). Music's ability to "heal the soul" is well known and respected in every culture. A multitude of cultures play music to help influence their mood. Many people find that certain music lifts their spirits. Modern research tends to confirm music's psychotherapeutic benefits. “Bright, cheerful music (e.g.. Mozart, Vivaldi, Bluegrass, Klezmer, Salsa, Reggae) is the most obvious prescription for the blues” (Jurado). When one listens to music, “the soothing tunes stimulates the release of serotonin, a hormone that fosters happiness and a general sense of well-being. It also flushes the body with dopamine, a neurotransmitter that makes you feel good” (“How Music Uplifts Your Mood.”). Listening to music can put people in a better mood, and by combatting depression and lifting spirits, the body’s health is greatly benefited. Music impacts multiple aspects of the body influencing the release of different hormones, thus creating a healthier body and mind.

Surprisingly, music can boost a person’s energy levels throughout the day. In addition, music can help provide more motivation throughout the day. According to Holmes, “listening to upbeat music can be a great way to find some extra energy. Music can effectively eliminate exercise-induced fatigue and fatigue symptoms caused by monotonous work”. By pumping up the body and cutting fatigue caused by boredom and dull work, music improves energy levels and liveliness of the body. According to Alejandra Ruani, leader of the research division at The Health Sciences Academy, “sports scientists at Brunel University in the UK, a world-leading research hub on music for athleticism, have demonstrated that music can reduce your rate of perceived effort by 12% and improve your endurance by 15%.” Listening to music while exercising can help take your mind off the task at hand and deceives your body into believing it has more energy. This “trick” helps by improving the endurance of the body and makes it feel like it is doing a lot less than it actually is. Music also paves the way for the release of norepinephrine, also known as noradrenaline. This hormone increases arousal and alertness, promotes vigilance, enhances formation and retrieval of memory, while bringing about euphoria and elation. By releasing this hormone in the body, the mind focuses and helps pump up the body and boost energy levels. Music is powerful and can even act as a healthy distraction from arduous tasks and can help the body achieve more by improving happiness and energy levels.

Music is also a cheap and healthy stress reliever. For many, music has the power to benefit the human body by reducing stress. “One of the great benefits of music as a stress reliever is that it can be used while you do your usual deeds so that it really doesn't take extra time” (“How Music Affects Us and Promotes Health”). Listening to music can entertain its audience and help them enjoy themselves as they go about their daily chores. This helps reduce stress by helping them get through their day and, by having less work to do, also have less stress and problems they must worry about.

Music also relates to stress relief by impacting a few influential hormones in the body. “Researchers discovered that music can increase the amount of the cortisol, a stress-related hormone produced by the body in response to stress” (Aldawas). Cortisol is a steroid hormone that is released by the body when it undergoes stress. It combats stress related effects in the body and also benefits the body by regulating parts of the body that are affected by stress such as blood pressure. The physical body is also affected by music when hormone production of seratonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine occurs, which also reduces the amount of stress on the body. Music can be a healthier, less costly tool for reducing stress.

Today, “approximately 2.1 million Americans abuse prescription drugs nonmedically in 2017” (“Misuse of Prescription Drugs Share”) to seek pleasure and relief from stress. This amounts to an “estimated 5,750 initiates per day” (“Misuse of Prescription Drugs Share”). These drug abusers believe that these drugs they ingest can take them away from the stress and problems in life. Many statistics support these drug abuser’s ideas, these drugs do “take them away”, but maybe a bit too harshly. “In 2016, an estimated 59,000 to 65,000 people died of a drug related death” (“Misuse of Prescription Drugs Share”). Instead of using these unhealthy drugs for stress relief, one should look to music to do the job. Music can relieve stress, but at the the same time, benefit the body in many other ways instead of harming the body with the dreadful effects of drugs. Music acts as a stress reducer, not only by decreasing stress related hormones but also by helping one enjoy their day and go about tasks with a happy, motivated mood. By doing something as simple as introducing music into your life, or the life of a loved one, when stressed, you could possibly make an impact as immense as saving a life from drug abuse or suicide.

Overall, listening to music throughout the day is proven to improve bodily health by helping the human body sleep better as well as lifting spirits and changing moods. It is also a cheap, wonderful way to help increase energy levels and make the boring everyday tasks enjoyable. Music also acts as a healthy stress reliever, better than drugs and painkillers that may help one relax, but at the same time, harm the body. By introducing music into your daily lifestyle, you can benefit your health and provide emotional comfort, boost energy levels, and reduce stress. In conclusion, there are many benefits to listening to music, so if you ever need a cheap solution to your stressful problems or something to brighten up your day, simply, slip on a pair of headphones and take pleasure in your favorite tunes.

Annotated Bibliography

Aldawas, Ahmed. My Experience on Reducing Stress. Dorrance Pub Co, 2011.

This source provided detailed information on how music affects the body and how it can combat stress. It also tells of how music can help in several common everyday activities. Majority of this source is based on what doctors say about the topic and how doctors have used music to improve health. This source is useful because it provides information on how music affects the body internally, such as the heart and blood vessels.

Holmes, Lindsay. “7 Undeniable Benefits Of Listening To Music.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 31 Oct. 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/benefits-of-music_us_58122175e4b0390e69ce84a5.

This source provides information of seven different benefits of music. In addition, it gives information on how music can heal to how listening to music can change the mood. This source is useful because it also contains percentages from research for a better understanding. It is also valuable because there is content on the effects of music that is useful to help heal the body

“How Music Affects the Body.” SuperConsciousness Magazine, 23 Feb. 2011, www.superconsciousness.com/topics/art/how-music-affects-body.

This source contains information on six ways music benefits the human body. In addition, this source contains many more effects of music on the body that are more uncommon and related to the internal effects. It helps cover the more different studies of the effects of music on the brain. It is valuable to my research because it gives many more effects of music on the body that are related to the brain and more rare.

“How Music Affects Us and Promotes Health.” Surprising Effects Of Music,

www.emedexpert.com/tips/music.shtml.

“How Music Uplifts Your Mood.” Quora, 29 Mar. 2015, www.quora.com/What-are-good-ways-to-deal-with-anxiety.

This source provided detailed information on how music affects mood. It also tells of how music can help the body. This source is useful because it provides information on how music affects the body internally, such as the heart and blood vessels, as well as music’s impact on production of hormones in the body, which is not common in my other sources.

Jurado, Anthony. “7 Insane Ways Music Affects The Body (According to Science).”Cracked.com, www.cracked.com/article_18405_7-insane-ways-music-affects-body-according-to-science.html.

This source contains information on seven ways music affects a human’s mood. In addition, this source contains many more effects of music on the body that are more uncommon and surprising. It helps cover the more different studies of the effects of music. It is valuable to my research because it gives many more effects of music on the body that are more uncommon and surprising.

“Misuse of Prescription Drugs Share.” NIH: National Institute on Drug Abuse. January 2018. www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/misuse-prescription-drugs/what-scope-prescription-drug-misuse

This source provides information on the abuse of drugs. It tells on the many effects of drugs on the human body. This source also contains information on how drugs are detrimental to the body as well as number of deaths and usage. This source is particularly useful because it contains exact statistics.

Ruani, Alejandra. “4 Remarkable Ways Music Can Enhance Athletic Performance.” The Health Sciences Academy, 25 Mar. 2016, thehealthsciencesacademy.org/health-tips/music-can-enhance-athletic-performance/.

This source provides information on four remarkable ways music can enhance athletic performance. It tells on the many powers of music and what it can do. This source also contains information on how music can affect the athletic performance. This source is particularly useful because it not only contains information on how music physically effects the human body, but

also mentally.