The wonders of music and how it affects humans

Music is everywhere around us, but have you ever stopped to think how significant it is? Not only does music connect people, express inner feelings, and alter your mood, but it also contributes to developing the capabilities of your mind. Music not only changes us, but it also improves our cognitive, physical, and emotional attributes. Below are 4 different ways that music can directly influence our lives.

Your taste in music is partly responsible for the characteristics you possess.

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Professor Adrian North from Heriot-Watt University led a study to find out the possible correlation between music taste and personality traits such as self esteem, creativity, extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness. In the span of 3 years, he collected data from 36,000 people in over 60 countries. North stated “We really got the sense that people were selecting musical styles to like that match their own personality.” He explained that this could be the reason that people get very defensive about what music they listen to, because it could be a link to the person’s perspective on life.

Music can lead to effective exercising.

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Many people like to listen to music while being physically active, but did you know it can actually make your workout more successful? Research has shown that cyclists need 7% less oxygen when listening to music compared to cyclists who don’t. This proves that music can help us in utilizing our energy more efficiently. Additionally, music can overpower fatigue as it fights for the brain’s attention. However, this is only seen to be beneficial during low and moderate intensity exercises.

Ambient noise and musical training improve cognitive functions of the brain.

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It is said that moderate noise levels help boost creative thinking because the slight difficulty to process ideas while hearing ambient noise will push our brains to approach ideas with more creativity. Next time you need an idea for an inventive project, don’t hesitate to visit a cafe or simply find an “Ambient noise” video on YouTube! Moving onto musical training which can help develop many important skills... research showed that children with three years of musical instrument learning experience performed better in auditory discrimination abilities, fine motor skills, vocabulary, and nonverbal reasoning skills compared to children without any prior instrument training. This is because learning to play an instrument can engage many parts of your brain in order to read, understand, and play music. You can try learning a musical instrument today! It's never too late to pick up a new skill.

Listening to classical music is very useful for your body.

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The genre of classical music has been proven to heighten your dopamine levels, which contributes to many different benefits to your everyday life. It generally makes you happier, and can help make studying or working more productive and enjoyable which also leads to reducing stress and anxiety levels. A small study demonstrated that compositions from classical musicians such as Mozart and Strauss have calming effects, which can help improve sleep quality and reduce heart attacks through decreasing your blood pressure. Lastly, people who listened to classical music (specifically Mozart) showed a rise in brain wave activity which related to memory, comprehension and problem solving.

People often overlook the impacts of music, seeing it as just another form of art or entertainment. However, as we have discussed in this article, there are many reasons to appreciate music for its incredible benefits! During this unprecedented time, it is important for everyone to take a step back and relax, and what better way to do so than to listen to music!

By Priscilla Man