Imagine lying in your bed listening to your favorite song as your brain is hard at work activating the broadest and most diverse networks of your brain. Well, you don’t need to imagine because this is already happening when you listen to music. Many people listen to their favorite type or genre of music on a daily basis not knowing what music does to them.
How do you process music?
When you’re listening to music do you ever wonder how we are able to process the sound? The Kennedy Center reports that we are able to listen to music due to sound waves from the sound system reaching the outer ear. Once the music travels to the middle ear it causes tiny bones to vibrate. These vibrations then go and travel to the inner ear which then translates these vibrations into electrical signals. Finally these electric signals get sent to the brain by nerve cells called neurons via the cochlear nerve system.
After, those signals travel along the cochlear nerve system into the brain’s cerebral cortex. Due to this process, we are able to analyze different aspects in music, such as rhythm, pitch, and the dynamic of the music.
The ways music can benefit you
When you listen to music it can have a calming effect on your brain, which can make your brain release cortisol – a hormone related to stress relief such as inflammation, blood sugar, and your body responds. The Merit School Of Music explains “Lower cortisol levels counteract the effects of chronic stress, promoting lower blood pressure, proper sleep regulation and, thus, a healthier daily cycle.”
This means that due to you listening to music, it’ll help you have a higher cortisol, making you not have a low amount. This is good because it will make you experience less stress, fatigue, unintentional weight loss, and not have a poor appetite.
Another effect music can have on you is that it can also release brain chemicals (neurotransmitters and hormones) that can cause emotional responses, memories, feelings, and promote social bonds.The Natural Center for Complementary and Integrative Health mentioned, “Music can even affect the structure of the brain. Certain structures in the brain have been found to be larger in musicians than non musicians, with particularly noticeable changes in people who started their musical training at an early age.”
This means that having been shown or practicing musical training early can sometimes have a big effect on your brain structure. This can make it so that you have a better understanding or knowledge in certain areas due to the music you listened to.
Can music be harmful for you?
Music can have a negative effect on you depending on the type of music you indulge in. This is what the Children’s Hospital of New Orleans reported. They stated, “However, research shows that music can also induce harmful effects, particularly when it comes to rumination. When a person dwells on negative thinking or feelings, it can contribute to the development of depression and anxiety or worsen existing conditions. This is especially concerning for teenagers, as music can be a powerful tool for self-expression and emotional regulation.”
If you tend to listen to powerful music for self-expression, depending on what that is being experienced in the music, it can have a bad effect on your mood, cognition, feelings, and possibly distress.
The Children’s Hospital of New Orleans goes more in depth and explains that sad music to induce rumination can potentially cause repetitive thinking or dwelling on negative feelings. The hospital also mentioned “In addition, researchers find that music-induced harm can occur when people listen to self-identified sad music during moments of psychological distress. Among teens, this can be potentially harmful when music is used with the intention of attaining feelings of support, but instead, the music intensifies symptoms which can result in behaviors that are unhealthy or harmful.”
This can be bad for you because if you’re already having feelings of stress this form of music could intensify or make that feeling worse.
Conclusion
Music has many forms of effects on people. These effects can be beneficial or negative to a person but not many people know about them. Knowing or learning about these effects can possibly help someone understand why they are feeling a certain way. This could potentially help someone change what they listen to to combat this or it could help them understand what they like to listen to.
