How Music Heals and Inspires Us in Challenging Times

 / 

, , ,

Going through a difficult time in life and donโ€™t know what to do next? Well, play your favorite song and youโ€™ll feel calmer than usual. This is how music heals you. It is also referred as music therapy that calms our mind from stress and anxiety.

Want to know more about the benefits of music? Continue reading this article.

Hereโ€™s How How Music Heals and Inspires Us

KEY POINTS

Research shows that music, especially singing collectively, has positive social benefits.
Music has been shown to reduce depression and anxiety, even in high-stress jobs.
Music can help us to be resilient by reinterpreting difficult experiences to be less threatening.

Do you have a certain song that helps you weather your lifeโ€™s storms? Whose lyrics capture your feelings, or whose beat shakes you out of your rumination? Do you listen to music to reflect your mood? Or maybe even to change your mood?

Think about how, during the dark depths of the early pandemic in 2020, people across Italy, Canada, and the United States would open their windows each evening and sing together. And how those in other countries also found ways to share musicโ€”including people singing together virtually online.

how music heals

Their collective music-making was a remarkable testament to the human drive for survival. It was also a powerful reminder that our individual survival is linked to the solidarity we find in our shared humanity. Openly participating together in expressing the hope that keeps us going feels natural in the midst of a scary situation affecting everyone.

Related: 36 Most Relaxing Songs For Anxiety, Stress And Depression

What The Research Shows

Research suggests that singing together fosters both individual health and social bonds among those who join in. Put simply, the endorphins it releases in our brains make us feel good. They also increase our ability to tolerate painโ€”including emotional pain, like that we experienced seeing such disturbing pandemic images as the tractor-trailers used as overflow morgues in New York City because so many people were dying of COVID-19 in the early months of the pandemic.

A group of scientists who met back in 2006 at Stanford Universityโ€™s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics noted that research has demonstrated that music with a strong beat stimulates the brain and ultimately causes brainwaves to resonate in time with the rhythm. On the other hand, low beats encourage the slow brainwaves that are associated with hypnotic or meditative states. Faster beats may encourage more alert and concentrated thinking.

How How Music Heals and Inspires Us

Listening to music has been found to reduce stress and anxiety even in critically ill hospital patients. One study found that even front-line nursesโ€”a profession already high in stress and higher than ever in the pandemicโ€”can reduce their stress by taking a break and listening to soothing music. In the study, one group of nurses listened to soothing music of their choice for 30 minutes while the other group simply rested quietly in a chair for 30 minutes. Researchers found after the 30-minute rest the nurses who listened to music had lower levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, than those who had simply rested.

Recent research demonstrates that adding music to standard therapeutic tools made a difference for people with depression and anxiety compared with therapy without music.

How How Music Heals and Inspires Us

Singing And Making Music Together Supports Resilience

Music, especially vocal music, has always been important to me. Ever since I was a boy, I have had an ear for human voices, able to recognize and distinguish individual singers by the unique tone of their voice. Iโ€™ve also had a knack for remembering song lyrics, meaning I can sing along with a lot of songs. Best of all, I have been blessed with a pretty good tenor voice, and I love to sing.

Add these things together, and you can understand why I have always had a song for every event, mood and occasion. I have used my mental jukebox and singing voice to vocalize my emotions. I have songs to motivate me when I need to recharge my energy, and other songs to give voice to loneliness and sadness. My repertoire includes plenty of songs to express joy and celebrate life. They are all part of why music has always been central to my own resilience.

Related: Listening To Thisย Songย Reduces Your Anxiety by 65%

Iโ€™ve thought about these thingsโ€”and wrote this pieceโ€”after recently reading Harriett Beecher Stoweโ€™s famous nation-changing 1852 novel Uncle Tomโ€™s Cabin. Stowe evokes powerful images of the enslaved women and men who labored under the hot southern sun, picking cotton.

They often sang spirituals together as they worked. โ€œNobody Knows the Trouble Iโ€™ve Seenโ€ was one of the popular tunes included in the 1867 collection Slave Songs of the United States, the first-ever collection of African American music. Singing together was a way to ease each otherโ€™s pain and sorrow, and to provide strength to get through another day of bondage.

Another cultural reference: In the 1956 movie adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical โ€œThe King and I,โ€ Deborah Kerr in โ€œI Whistle a Happy Tuneโ€ sings:

While shivering in my shoes
I strike a careless pose
And whistle a happy tune
And no one ever knows Iโ€™m afraid
The result of this deception
Is very strange to tell
For when I fool the people I fear
I fool myself as well

Her whistling is a version of โ€œfake it until you make it.โ€ The cheerful music diverts her mind from her fear so she can act instead with courage. It helps her manage her emotions and act from a more centered position.

Clearly, as research shows and as the pandemic singing and slave songs of old remind us, music can help us deal with whatever life may bring (or throw at) usโ€”whether we whistle, sing, or simply listen, especially if itโ€™s shared with others.

Related: The Oldest Self-healingย Method For Whole-Body Wellness

We hope that you were able to find out how music inspires your heart and soul. Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!


Written by: John-Manuel Andriote
Originally appeared on: Psychology Today
Republished with permission
how music heals pin

— Share —

— About the Author —

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Up Next

The Role Of ‘Resilient Mindset’ In Healing

Resilient Mindset The Healing Power Of A Positive Mindset

Does having a positive, resilient mindset support healing? Discover how hope, and balanced optimism might influence the bodyโ€™s natural ability to heal!

Can we influence our body’s ability to heal through cellular communication?

Key points

It’s important to strike the right balance of optimism, hope, belief, and realism.

A hopeful, resilient mindset could promote positive changes at the cellular level and boost healing.

There are cases of people who have been given a fatal prognosis and changed their outcome using mindset.

Up Next

10 Self Love Habits for Women: Your Path to a Cherished Life

How to love yourself more as a woman? Do you often struggle with understanding self love habits?

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Thereโ€™s a pressure for women to be selfless to the point of ignoring their own needs. This pressure can make it difficult for women to understand self love habits. If thatโ€™s the case for you, there

Up Next

8 Everyday Habits That Are Damaging Your Brain (And What To Do Instead)

We all do things we know we shouldnโ€™t- that we know are unhealthy. Skipping lunch because you woke up late for work, or staying up past bedtime binging on the new show on Netflix (because who can resist, right?). These might seem harmless, but some of these are habits that are damaging your brain.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Our brain is the most vital organ of our

Up Next

Yoga for Seniors: 7 Effective Yoga Poses that Older People Can Do

If youโ€™re an elderly person looking to improve your overall health and well-being, consider giving the gentle art of yoga for seniors a try.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Yoga is rooted deeply in Indian culture and is a pathway to vitality and well-being. It is one of the most effective holistic healing processes. It doesnโ€™t matter whether youโ€™re five or eighty-f

Up Next

Are Your Eyes At Risk? The Shocking Truth About Smartphone Vision Syndrome!

Have you ever had blurred vision, sore eyes, or a headache after using your phone for a long time, particularly in the dark? If yes, then you might have Smartphone Vision Syndrome (SVS). Letโ€™s find out more about it.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

In this era of technology, we heavily rely on our smartphones. Whether itโ€™s checking emails and scrolling throu

Up Next

3 Hacks To Stop Negative Thinking: It Worked For Me!

As someone who struggled to recognize negative thinking in myself, it took some time to understand I was doing it as a self-defense mechanism. I felt like I โ€œhad toโ€ think negatively to keep myself safe. After a series of negative consequences, I discovered three easy steps to help stop negative thinking.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Negativity is not just in your

Up Next

6 Sleep Habits Of Successful Entrepreneurs: What Makes Billionairesโ€ฆBillionaires

Understanding billionaire success through their hard work doesnโ€™t cut it; itโ€™s also about how they rest and recharge.ย The sleep habits of successful entrepreneurs might hold the secret to success. Learn CEOs like Elon Musk, or Jeff Bezos on how they were able to sleep late but still dominate the world.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

From optimizing sleep environmen