Chances are, you’ve listened to music today. Whether it was intentional or not, you heard some kind of music. It could’ve been the theme song to your favorite TV show, background music on a video game, or someone on the bus was listening to music way too loud through their headphones (please don’t do this – not only is it annoying, it’s also incredibly detrimental to your hearing).
Music is nearly inescapable today because of streaming services that allow you access to almost any song in the world. This is remarkably valuable because research shows that music with a slower tempo has measurable stress-reducing effects. So, if you like to listen to classical music while studying, you are simultaneously relieving stress! Furthermore, a study found that music therapy decreased congestive heart failure events in a group of 87 dementia patients at a geriatric hospital in Japan.
If you play an instrument, your cognitive processing capabilities are probably slightly higher than those who do not. Albert Einstein played the piano, viola, and violin. He said about his discovery of the theory of relativity, “It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of musical perception.” Performing musical activities, such as singing or playing an instrument, can strengthen coordination, social cognition, and communication abilities.
The good news is, you do not need to have any musical inclination to reap the benefits of listening to music. Music can help your blood flow more easily, elevate your mood, reduce stress, and even stimulate old memories. And with access to nearly any song imaginable, we have the unique opportunity to develop an appreciation for music we might not have listened to otherwise.
