The Benefits of Music

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything" - Plato.

You listen to music everyday. In fact, almost fifty percent of us listen to more than ten hours of music per week. Whether it's music that you listen to on the way to work, in a store or at the gym, it can drastically change your mood, mostly for the better. The beautiful thing about music is that everybody has their own taste in music, whether it be The Beatles or cultural African music and it is definite that you will find someone who appreciates and embraces your taste. Every human being to ever have existed on this planet has listened to music at least once throughout their lifetime. The Ancient Greeks used music to heal the soul; and apparently it was successful!

Listening to music can elevate your mood. Listening to music that makes you feel a particular mood, releases dopamine which is known as the feel good hormone, filling you with exuberance, excitement, any positive emotion you can imagine! It's proven that music played with a quick tempo and in major key, can uplift your mood. So the next time you need an emotional boost, play the most cheerful music you know - that's all it takes to get a natural high!

It keeps your brain healthy. Listening to music is exercising the brain. Therefore as you listen to music, you are likely to have better memory and improved sharpness in your brain as you age. In some cases, people who have had a type of brain damage have been able to regain partial or full memory, by the simple action of listening to music. In addition, classical and meditative music in particular can reduce depression.

Your visual and verbal skills are improved. A study using subjects that were eight to eleven years old found that those who were involved in extra-curricular musical activities, such as music lessons or the school orchestra, were developing higher verbal IQs and their visible ability was greater than those who did not participate in musical activities. Who would've thought?

Your productivity levels are increased. When you have encouraging, upbeat music playing in the background while you complete your lengthy to-do list, it becomes less tiresome and more enjoyable with positive music. Try it with anything you have to do during the day, such as tidying your room or washing the dishes. You will be surprised at how quickly you can accomplish your tasks!

It encourages you to exercise. You know when you have a shockingly good playlist full of upbeat tracks, and you feel the need to exercise just for the music? We've all been there, and done that. Music is the motivation to work out more vigorously. Although it may not be a preference for some, working out with music in your ears has a huge benefit. You are actually distracted when you are listening to your favourite tracks, and you may not notice that you just ran an extra mile!

Your creativity is boosted. While taking part in an imaginative activity, loud music may not be the best option to play. Alternatively, a moderate level of noise is the perfect condition, as it gets your creative juices flowing more effectively. However with loud music, you are preoccupied by the volume, and therefore struggle to present your creative side.

It improves your quality of sleep. Some of the most common factors that hinder sleep are anxiety and stress. However, you no longer need to toss and turn as you toil to get to sleep, It has been proven that listening to music has the ability to treat insomnia. So the next time you have trouble sleeping, play some de-stressing music, classical is recommended, and you'll be dozing in no time!