Soothe Your Stress Away with Music

If you regularly turn to music intuitively to relieve stress, you certainly aren’t alone. You can definitely tap into the power of music to bring healing to yourself.
Read along to discover the hidden psychological benefits of music that will make you feel better in times of stress. If you are not a music lover, the treasure trove of hidden benefits below just might convert you to begin singing a new tune as your go-to stress reliever.
Music can help relieve stress.
In one 2013 study, participants took part in one of three conditions before being exposed to a stressor, and subsequently took a psychosocial stress test. Some participants listened to relaxing music, others listened to the sound of rippling water, and the rest received no auditory stimulation. The results suggested that listening to music had an impact on the human stress response, particularly the autonomic nervous system, otherwise known as our fight or flight system. Those who had listened to music tended to recover more quickly following any kind of stressor.
Music can improve cognitive performance.
Research suggests that background music can improve performance on cognitive tasks in older adults. Specifically, one study found that playing more upbeat music led to improvements in processing speed, while both upbeat and downbeat music led to benefits in memory. The trick is the music has to be more instrumental and less complicated, otherwise you will be more prone to distraction when completing your tas...

Source: World of Psychology - February 25, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Emily Waters Tags: Creativity Memory and Perception Research Self-Help Stress Music Self Care stress management stress reduction Source Type: blogs