“Music calms the beast”. Surely you have heard this popular saying before. It may seem like an exaggeration; Music probably won’t help you if you find yourself facing a hungry lion trying to eat you. But, joking aside, if we take the concept of “beast” from the saying and identify it with our daily life beasts (such as stress, fatigue, irritability, insomnia or bad mood), things begin to have more meaning. sense.
The usefulness of music is reflected in several benefits for human beings. That is why it has always been present, in one form or another. There has not been a society that has not included musical expression in its cultural manifestations; And music goes hand in hand, always and (probably) forever, with the human being.
What is music for?
In an interesting experiment carried out by Dr. Frances Rauscher and her team in 1993 and whose results were published in the scientific journal Nature, it was observed that students who listened to Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D major (K. 448), They presented a substantial improvement in their spatio-temporal abilities. Soon the news began to circulate that the music of the brilliant Austrian composer, and specifically this piece, positively stimulated certain areas of the brain.
More recently, the experiment was confirmed when rats were exposed to the same music and the animals managed to solve the mazes proposed by the researchers much faster. In the 1990s, the phenomenon became popularized as the “Mozart Effect,” a concept first coined by otolaryngologist Alfred Tomatis (1920-2001) with his work Pourquoi Mozart? (Why Mozart?) Later, he established Don Campbell with The Mozart Effect. Although there is no agreement among experts on whether this “Mozart effect” really exists, it cannot be denied that music in general (and classical music in particular) has a series of obvious benefits on our body and in general. our way of communicating with others.
Music for every personality
Although in this article we will talk about music in general and its important contributions to our lives, not all types of music provide the same benefits.
For example, and beyond the “Mozart effect”, it is proven that classical music, in general, has a very high sedative capacity, in addition to contributing to the improvement of concentration and memory. At least, this is what is deduced from another famous experiment, led by medical doctor Hans-Joachim Trappe (1954).
The study concluded that classical music activates brain areas that are related to creativity, in addition to immersing the brain in the so-called “alpha mode”; That is, it induces a state similar to that of meditation. Dr. Trappe’s research also presented the effect that other types of music have on the body: while popular music stimulates a good mood, heavy or techno music provokes greater aggression and accelerates the heart rate.
From the study it is deduced, in addition to the fact that not all types of music produce the same effect on our body, that there is music for each type of personality or for specific moments of the day. Thus, for exercise, salsa or mambo may be a better option, which, according to Trappe’s experiment, stimulates body movement.
7 important properties of music
Below, we summarize the 7 most outstanding properties that music has, so that you are aware of how important this cultural expression is.
1. Modulate emotions
Closely related to what we talked about in the introduction about “taming beasts,” music has an unmatched capacity to modulate our emotions. Thus, if we feel restless or irritable, a piece of classical music or meditation music can immerse us almost immediately in a highly beneficial and pleasant state of relaxation.
Likewise, sufficiently fast music, with an accelerated and forceful rhythm, immediately takes us to action, since it raises heart and respiratory rates. Thus, this type of music is ideal to accompany sports competitions, personal physical exercise or other tasks that require active movement.
2. Contributes to happiness
Listening to music causes our body to secrete a series of neurotransmitters that significantly improve our feeling of happiness. Among them are dopamine (which gives us well-being) and oxytocin (commonly called “the love hormone”). On the other hand, listening to music that we like is a pleasure that makes us feel comfortable and at peace.
3. Helps reduce stress and insomnia
Listening to sedative music before going to sleep is highly beneficial to improve our rest. Relaxing music produces slow brain waves (alpha waves, also called relaxation waves) that induce sleep.
On the other hand, music is very beneficial to combat stress. In fact, a study by the American Society of Hypertension concluded that listening to 30 minutes of classical music a day reduces blood pressure, which helps reduce stress. This is why, in recent years, the use of music to relieve chronic tension (music therapy) has increased.
4. Improves learning capabilities
Concentration, assimilation of concepts and memory are significantly benefited by music. We have already discussed the effects of listening to Mozart’s music, but any type of music with a sufficiently harmonious structure has this effect on our brain.
5. Reduces pain
Listening to relaxing music daily helps reduce chronic pain by up to 21%. It has been proven, for example, how daily contact with sedative music or classical music considerably relieved the pain of patients admitted to the ICU.
When listening to relaxing music, the body releases endorphins, our natural pain reliever. In addition, it has an immediate effect on our parasympathetic nervous system (that is, the system that regulates “unconscious” functions, such as digestion or salivation), allowing us to return to a resting state after an episode of stress.
6. Allows you to express emotions
Like any artistic and cultural manifestation, music allows us to express emotions in an easy and direct way, much more immediate than other types of art. In her article about the benefits of music, the psychologist and doctor in neuroscience Ana Asensio gives the example of the pianist James Rodhes (1975) who, thanks to music, managed to “exorcise” the fears and demons he carried from his stormy past. .
7. Help in clinical treatments
In the aforementioned article, Dr. Asensio maintains the importance of music in the treatment of diseases such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s, since it awakens new neural connections in affected people and reinforces their memory. On the other hand, music has a prominent role in the treatment of disorders such as ADHD or autism spectrum disorders (ASD).