We all have our favorite tunes, often associated with a certain stage in life. The influence of music on a person is undeniable, and has been noticed more than a century ago. It turned out that different rhythms can have a positive effect on mood, psyche and health. In the article you will learn exactly how music affects a person and his well-being, and what is its main benefit.
How music affects the human body
Questions about the influence of music on humans have been relevant for a long time. Already in ancient times, it became clear that melodies cause sadness, joy, and relieve irritability and pain. In Ancient Egypt, choral singing cured insomnia and had an analgesic effect. Ancient Chinese doctors included listening to melodies as part of their treatment. The famous scientist Pythagoras was convinced that music influences a person, saving him from the passivity of the soul, anger, delusion, and rage. In turn, Avicenna effectively used music in the treatment of the mentally ill.
The ringing of bells was used in Rus' to treat headaches, remove the evil eye, joint diseases, and damage. According to modern scientists, ringing has ultrasonic and resonant radiation, which destroys many viruses.
Later, scientific evidence appeared of the ability of music to influence a person, increasing and decreasing blood pressure levels and participating in the central nervous system, gas exchange, heart rate and other vital processes. Perhaps, only too loud music can cause harm, causing headaches with the sound. Depressive songs under severe stress can make the situation worse.
Music therapy activates memory
The process of listening to music affects an area of the brain called the hippocampus.
The hippocampus is an area of the brain that is responsible for long-term storage of information.
Doctors use this knowledge to help patients suffering from dementia and memory loss. Music is capable of “retrieving” and restoring fragments of lost memories without the use of psychological conversations, even in the most recent stages of mental illness.
The effect of music on the human brain
The human brain has pleasure centers. Is something nice happening? The brain produces the hormone dopamine, which is responsible for positive feelings. When dopamine production is low, a person experiences stress.
Numerous experiments have been conducted to determine how music affects humans. During one of them, a team of subjects was asked to listen to several dozen musical compositions. During the experiment, the brain activity of the participants was recorded by an MRI machine. Bottom line: Liked music has the greatest effect on an area of the brain called the nucleus accumbens. She also becomes active at the stage of sexual arousal or intoxication. Feeling confused but don't have a way to boost your levels of said hormone? Listen to music!
Listening to compositions affects the production of dopamine; accordingly, playing music at any age has a positive effect on human development. Mental functions are distributed between the right and left hemispheres, motor skills improve, and concentration increases.
Conclusion
Music and its influence on a person is invaluable. This fact has been repeatedly proven by numerous experiments by scientists from different countries. Music and music therapy can become a tool that allows one to achieve health and ensure longevity of a person.
Improving the health of the body through the means of musical art is accessible to everyone, since it does not involve significant expenditures of time and material resources, which means that knowledge of how to practice health improvement is necessary for everyone.
Let music always sound, giving the world miracles, sometimes moving hearts, it is tender, like heaven... Let music always sound, accompanying us through life, which will save and protect, indeed, it is holy...
Gennady Sivak
Music has the ability to penetrate a person’s soul, heart and mind, filling it with strong emotional impressions. I hope everyone understands the power of music in order to use it for their own benefit. I wish everyone pleasant life moments filled with the healing sounds of music.
The influence of classical music on the human psyche
The influence of music on a person is undeniable, and is especially true in the case of classical music. Find the right background music to lift your mood or focus on your work. Classic hits can help.
The brain is stimulated by the works of Antonio Vivaldi, one of the brightest composers of all time. He worked during the Baroque period, and his works were distinguished by their measured tempo and high-frequency harmonic overtones, giving emotional fullness. What is its effect on mood? A slow rhythm leads to calmness without slowing down the mental process. The effect is scientifically confirmed.
While studying brain function while listening to baroque music with a tomograph, researchers noticed that peak brain activity occurred during short moments of silence between musical parts. This is explained by a certain degree of unpredictability of Baroque music: the listener subconsciously makes predictions and analyzes possible melodic combinations in the next musical fragment.
A similar influence of music on a person is recorded when listening to Handel, Bach, Albinoni. Listen to the hits of the Baroque era and charge your brain for active work. Try to use therapy not to accompany mental activity, but to precede it.
Mood
Anyone has noticed the impact music has on the general psychological state. When listening to your favorite songs, if they carry a charge of positive emotions, your mood inevitably improves. That is why many are inclined to believe that it is worth giving preference to cheerful compositions. The effects of music on mood are not limited to positive influences. It may vary from genre to genre.
It is recommended to listen to cheerful positive radio in the morning to quickly wake up, get a boost of energy, and want to achieve all your goals. In the evening, it is better to give preference to calm compositions that will relax you, distract you from problems, force you to get the best quality rest, and help prepare your body for a sound sleep.
The impact of music on your mood allows you to take complete control of it. The right choice of compositions will help in any work.
interesting fact
Many scientists are inclined to believe that humpback whales create musical compositions using all the elements familiar to people.
Interesting facts: music and human health
Some interesting facts about the influence of music on humans:
- Scientists at the University of Utah have determined that music helps activate sensory pathways that dampen pain sensations. The experiment involved almost 150 people prone to anxiety due to pain. When the participants listened to pleasant music, electrodes were applied to their fingers, causing slight pain. The melodic composition reduced pain levels and anxiety.
- Hong Kong scientists have determined that the influence of music on a person is very high, and develops mental abilities and memory (especially in children). During long-term observation, it was revealed that without the use of special exercises for memory, a person still had good performance in this area if he studied music in childhood.
- It turned out that the corresponding melody helps the patient recover after heart surgery. Joyful and positive motives evoke positive emotions and improve mood, therefore they are recommended for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Scientists are convinced that music therapy improves blood circulation and lowers blood pressure.
- Researchers claim that sounds coming in a certain tone and at different frequencies kill pathogens. Several centuries ago, the cities were engulfed by a plague epidemic, and by continuously ringing the bells, the people hoped to overcome it. It really had an effect. Reliable fact: microbial activity decreases by 40% when listening to bells or church music for a long time.
Thanks to the long-term influence of music on a person, hearing loss is prevented. In a simple study involving 160 subjects (half of them former musicians), several tests were administered. It turned out that even a 70-year-old musician can distinguish speech in a noisy environment better than an ordinary person or, for example, a 40-year-old musician.
Sounds have an anesthetic effect
Music has the property of lidocaine and can not only increase the pain threshold, but also completely dissolve the sensation of pain through its effect on human nerve cells.
In some medical institutions, following modern trends, they often play music that is comfortable for the patient during surgical interventions or childbirth.
When using music therapy, a person responds more quickly to anesthetic drugs, and the patient's muscles reach a relaxed state faster. In addition, blood circulation improves, which helps doctors perform surgical procedures.
How the genre of music affects the worldview
According to experiments conducted by HWU researchers, it has been proven that music influences a person and his character: once you know what genre a person prefers, you can tell a lot about him.
Over 36,000 people took part in the tests, which allowed scientists to draw conclusions that determine the personality characteristics of fans of a particular genre:
- Blues
– creativity, politeness, activity, arrogance; - Jazz
– a penchant for creativity, friendliness, high self-esteem; - Rap
– sociability, selfishness; - Classic
- an introverted personality type with self-esteem and extraordinary creativity; - Country and Western
– hard work, communication skills; - Opera
– openness, politeness, penchant for creative professions; - Indie
– low self-esteem, tendency to be thoughtful; - Reggae
– high self-esteem, sociability, creativity, laziness; - Heavy metal, hardcore
– great creative potential, low self-esteem; - Pop
– extroverted type, tactless, good creative abilities; - Indian music
is friendly, responsive.
Musical consonance improves adaptation and increases resistance to stress
Music undoubtedly has a beneficial effect on a person’s adaptation to stressful or difficult situations. It is easier for a person to perceive the environment if tracks from their favorite playlist are playing in their ears. Music increases stress resistance and helps you concentrate on tasks faster.
Cosmonauts have this tradition: before the launch of manned spacecraft, each of the cosmonauts on the active crew downloads two or three favorite tracks. Subsequently, the tracks serve as the basis for a background playlist during the launch of the ship.
How to listen to music correctly
Music has a positive effect on a person, and to achieve maximum effect it is worth considering some nuances:
- Watching a video clip and listening to music are somewhat different. To feel the desired effect, it is not necessary to be accompanied by visuals. Turn on the melody, close your eyes, imagine the situation described in the verses. Don't understand the text? Rely on the perception of musical motives and their emotional coloring.
- Don't ignore your emotions, let your feelings transform under the influence of the sounds you hear.
- Listen to microtonal music. You may experience a new emotional reaction when you hear something different from your usual sound combinations. There are many compositions of this type on the Internet.
- Turn on Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” and if you are not very familiar with his work, try to guess by ear, despite the titles, which season this or that work corresponds to. You will be amazed at how vivid the illustrations can be in your imagination.
- Do you like listening to music on headphones? Use only high quality ones. Bad headphones will not allow you to fully enjoy the author's intention and can spoil the impression of good music.
Musical background creates the illusion of time compression
Every day we encounter music that is in the background. We hear it in hypermarkets, train stations and airports, in banks and other crowded places. Background music serves to “compress” the temporal sensation. A person subconsciously slows down his body movements, completely immersing himself in the present moment without extraneous thoughts.
Often this is slow music with a pleasant motive: lounge, blues or other melody not loaded with lyrics and tempo. When listening to such music, the brain is susceptible to dispersal of attention, decreased irritability, and mental relaxation.
There is a loss of the sense of real time. A person can forget about time for an hour or more. At the same time, he will not experience boredom or increased anxiety. It should be remembered that a mental process is involved in the perception of a melodic background, which limits the assimilation of information, which affects the ability of mental calculation and clear thinking.
Just what the doctor ordered
To calm down: “Lullaby” by Brahms, “Light of the Moon” by Debussy, “Ave Maria” by Schubert, mazurkas and preludes by Chopin, waltzes by Strauss.
For neuroses and irritability: Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Bach's Cantata No. 2 and Italian Concerto, Haydn's Symphony.
For blood pressure surges and cardiac dysfunction: Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March,” Chopin’s “Nocturne in D Minor” and Bach’s “D Minor Concerto” for Violin.
For migraines: “Polonaise” by Oginsky, “Hungarian Rhapsody” by Liszt, “Fidelio” by Beethoven.
For insomnia: Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite, Sibelius's Sad Waltz, Schumann's Dreams, Tchaikovsky's plays.
For gastritis: Beethoven’s “Sonata No. 7.”
From addiction to alcohol and tobacco: “Ave Maria” by Schubert, “Moonlight Sonata” by Beethoven, “Swan” by Saint-Saëns, “Blizzard” by Sviridov.
