The Powerful Effects of Music On Your Brain

Whether you're enjoying a stage production or dinner show, you're at a dive bar listening to a local musician, or you're at the symphony, music is powerful. So much of our lives center around music in ways we don't even necessarily realize on a day-to-day basis. 

Think about how the soundtracks to movies are something you associate with what's happening on the screen or how a song can take you back to a moment in your life. 

Undoubtedly music has pretty powerful effects on our brains, including in the following ways. 

Music Keeps Your Brain Young

As we age, if we regularly listen to music, it can keep our brains engaged. Some doctors and researchers describe it as a brain workout because of how it provides stimulation.

There's ongoing research to delve more into the stimulation of music. 

When we hear music, some vibrations travel in the air and reach our ear canal. The vibrations will tickle our eardrums. Then, the vibrations transform into an electrical signal, traveling through the auditory nerve. Then, it reaches the brain stem. The signal is reassembled into what we perceive as music. 

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have looked at rappers and jazz performers who improvise music while they're in an MRI machine. They look at the areas of their brain that light up. 

There's a sense of mathematics and structure to music because of the relationships between the notes. Your brain has to work to understand it. 

When adults take piano lessons, in one study, their attention, memory, and problem-solving abilities improve. Their moods and quality of life increase also. 

Musicians often have generally healthier brains. They have better working memory, auditory skills, and mental agility, and flexibility than non-musicians. They also have more symmetrical brains. Areas of the brain responsible for spatial coordination, auditory processing, and motor control are bigger than in people who aren't musicians. 

They may also have a bigger corpus callosum, the nerve fibers that move information between the two brain hemispheres. 

Even if you aren't a musician, listening to it regularly can help you see some of the same benefits. 

Music As Therapy

Increasingly, we're seeing music being used as therapy. The American Music Therapy Association says music therapy programs can be built around particular goals. For example, music therapy may help with pain relief, memory improvement, and stress relief. 

In a 2015 review published in The Lancet, people who listened to music before, during, and after surgery had less pain and anxiety compared to patients who didn't. The group listening to music also needed less pain medication. 

In a recent review appearing in the World Journal of Psychiatry, music therapy was found to be effective as a treatment for mood disorders linked to neurological conditions. These neurological conditions include dementia, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, and stroke. 

Some things to know about music therapy include:

• Different types of music have varying effects on your mood

• Music can help you experience and process many varied emotions, including happiness, calmness, and thoughtfulness

• Both making and listening to music are beneficial 

Music therapy is an alternative to other types of therapy, like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). 

In a music therapy program, your therapist uses your responses and connections to music to help create positive changes in your mood and mindset. Music therapy might include listening to music or creating it with instruments. It can also include movement set to music and singing. 

Music therapy and the way your brain processes it can be complex. Pitch, melody, and tempo all play a role. 

Your cerebellum, for example, processes rhythm. Your frontal lobes process emotional signals music creates. Your right temporal lobe helps you understand pitch. 

You may even have physical reactions to music, such as goosebumps, which is because it affects your reward center, which is the nucleus accumbens. 

The idea of music for therapy and healing goes back to Ancient Greece. 

Mood Booster

When you listen to music, it can make you feel happier, and who doesn't want that?

For example, researchers in the UK found an orchestra for people with dementia helped improve their mood and self-confidence. 

Music Therapy For Anxiety

There are many studies suggesting music therapy can reduce feelings of anxiety. This benefit includes people with cancer, individuals going into intensive care units, and people undergoing surgery. 

Studies show music can lower blood pressure and heartbeat, which are ways your stress levels can go down. Music affects how you release stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. When you reduce these hormones, it can alleviate your anxiety symptoms. 

Depression

Studies show music therapy can help with symptoms of depression, particularly when used with traditional treatments like talk therapy. 

Listening to music triggers the release of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is a hormone. This hormone helps people feel good. Music also triggers your brain to release endorphins. Endorphins are similar hormones that help you feel happy and alleviate physical pain. 

Other Benefits of Music

Whether it's music therapy or you just engage with a lot of music in your everyday life, other benefits can include:

• Learning and practicing music can improve math, memory, reading, coordination, and comprehension skills. 

• Learning music can help with perseverance and personal responsibility. 

• When you create music, it can improve your mood and self-esteem by giving you a sense of achievement. 

• When you're exposed to music, you're also exposed to different cultures. You can learn more about the culture and the history of the people creating the music you're listening to. 

• With the creation or enjoyment of music, you can learn how to express yourself in more creative ways while simultaneously delving into difficult emotions. 

Benefits for Children

As is the case for adults, children can benefit enormously from learning music, playing it, listening to it, or participating in music therapy. Music therapy helps kids learn how to express their feelings, and it can help encourage them to play creatively. 

Participation in music therapy can help kids improve their coordination and concentration and build their listening and language skills.