Music is stronger than anyone thinks… Literally. It can influence your mind, mood, thoughts and behavior. I always wondered if there was evidence on this idea, because I know it alters my mood every single time I listen to music. If I am dealing with some unpleasant situations like arguments with my family, a breakup, or even when I am stressed out from school I tend to listen to more sad and love-related music. It usually is a terrible idea, because it emphasizes my emotions and usually results in me crying my eyes out. On the other hand, when I am extremely hyper or happy, exciting and upbeat pump-up music makes me ten times happier!
There are good effects and bad effects from music. Music is used as therapy to people. Whether you’re listening to it, or playing an instrument like a guitar or piano and even singing is proven to be major stress relievers. There are also studies where it has been proven to lower blood pressure, pulse rates, and hormones. There are also studies where listening to calm music, especially classical music, has increased grades and helps student’s focus. A recent study has been made announcing that people going through surgery have seen that “listening to music was also shown to be more successful than prescription drugs.”
Though there are numerous benefits that result from music, happiness is not always the result. Some negative effects have occurred from music as well. Many people believe that music can make you even more depressed than imagined. People have been surveyed, and a majority believed dark, loud, and “devil-worshiping” ballads and music links depressed people to suicidal thoughts and actions. Music influences people’s behaviors as well. A lot of songs, especially rap and hip-hop, directly relate to sex, drugs, and murder.
People believe that people follow these performers and become increasingly intrigued in falling for these temptations, which I definitely agree with. I think a lot of people become fascinated with songs including temptations and want to be just like their role models who are singing about these things.
Music is one of the most important necessities of life. There are so many things that you can learn and experience from music. You just have to make sure you are listening to the right kind of music so there is no possibility of being negatively influenced by it.
I 100% agree that music influences your mood. There’s nothing better than jamming to a fun song that makes you forget about everything that’s bothering you. One thing that I’ve found with music is that it obviously affects my mood but it also affects my workouts. I’m an avid runner and while I love a good silent run every once in a while, there’s nothing better than listening to some upbeat and catchy songs. It makes me excited to hit the pavement and a lot of times, I’ll even run faster and farther if the music is just that good. An article on beta.active.com looked into if music can make you peform better at running. It discussed a study done in England in 2009 about runners and music and stated, “The subjects’ average power output over the full 25 minutes was found to be 3.5 percent greater when the music tempo was increased. Their power dropped by 9.8 percent when the music was slowed down.” This shows how much an influence music can have on your life and everyday activities. Read the rest here, http://beta.active.com/running/Articles/Can-Music-Make-You-a-Better-Runner
I definitely agree with you that music influences mood and the mind. Water sounds help me concentrate better and dubstep gets me hype when I need to be. However, I believe that the effects different genres of music have on people’s minds depend on how familiar listeners are with the story lines of the lyrics. For example, I listen to American rap music, but only a few affect my mood or the ideas I hold about the world. On the other hand, my day is not complete without listening to Ghanaian Twi Pop because I find them humorous and dexterous at the same time.On a side note here’s an interesting link that explains why music affects our emotions http://psychcentral.com/lib/preferred-music-style-is-tied-to-personality/0001438
Hi Georgie!
I love your post! I completely agree about listening to certain music when you’re in certain moods. Pretty sure I listened to the entire Taylor Swift “Red” album on repeat a thousand times when my boyfriend and I broke up last year. This obviously didn’t help my situation very much as I just got sadder. However, when I’m in a good mood and happy, like when I’m getting ready to go out, I’ll listen to fun, exciting happy music and it’ll make me even happier than I already am. Another good point you brought up was how classical music can help you study. I listen to a lot of classical music when I’m studying because I find that lyrics while studying distracts me way too much whereas classical music makes me very focused. Another interesting point about music’s affect on the brain is the effect of music on small kids. It was once said that you should play classical music when you’re pregnant and it’ll make your baby smarter. However, recent studies found that it is actually much more beneficial when kids are out of the womb. Having your kids take music lessons will significantly improve spacial reasoning skills. To find out more about this check out this website! http://www.babycenter.com/0_music-and-your-unborn-child_6547.bc
Megan
Hi Georgie,
I absolutely agree with you about the importance of music. I am literally listening to music 100% of the time, except when I’m at work or sleeping (class is optional). I feel like when I am sad, music can help me release any unresolved feelings, or when I’m prepping for a volleyball games, blasting certain songs gets the adrenaline pumping through my body. Speaking of the adrenaline high I get from music, did you know that besides all of those wonderful links you have about music influencing mood and thoughts, it also aids in exercising and movement? According to this article, not only does music boost your mood, it also promotes metabolic efficiency when working out! The article goes on to explain how during workouts, music is also a tool from distracting people from pain. I have absolutely done this before. Sometimes, when I run, I sing along to the music so the time goes by quicker. Music is all-in-all just the worlds best medicine, and your blog post even further confirms that!