📣 For more lifestyle news, click here to join our WhatsApp Channel and also follow us on Instagram
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Have you ever noticed how hearing a song can take you back to a special moment years ago, give you goosebumps and snap you out of a bad day? Like so many other things in life, we take music, art and other pursuits for granted – just something to fill up our time or something going on in the background. What we don’t realize is the mental health impact such aspects of our life have on us. In fact, the arts not only bring us joy, they can be therapeutic too. And music is an essential part of it.
Music and well-being are very closely connected. Yes, most of us associate music with having a good time at a party with our friends but it can also give rise to a range of other emotions. It can momentarily charge us up with positive feelings, make us feel poignant or sad. In fact, music is a significant trigger for state-dependent memories. With many of our favourite songs, we associate memories of time spent with friends and family, of camaraderie, of joy and of heartbreak. At other times, it may just be the words or tonality that we relate with directly that can stir these emotions within us.
Music can be used therapeutically in a variety of settings. A good idea when using music to uplift our mood when we’re feeling down is to create a playlist that cheers us up. To make this playlist, start with songs that connect to this emotional state of feeling sad or low, so that it’s a feeling that you can connect with and find comfort in. Rather than staying with such a mood though, gradually transition into songs that are more upbeat and joyful, and relate to the more positive moments of your life. Music can also be a very effective tool for relaxation, such that our heartbeat often syncs with the beats of the song, and this can be a very effective way of calming down our autonomic hyperactivity. Syncing our breathing to this music can also help relax us more effectively and help with psychosomatic conditions. Having such relaxing music in the background can also help us fall asleep, while blocking out both external noise as well as our internal chatter.
At the same time, music also has a role to play in enhancing our overall quality of life. To build concentration, listen to an instrumental piece of music that has multiple instruments playing. For a few minutes, try to focus on any one instrument while blocking out the sound of others – this can be a very effective technique to block out distractions, learn to focus and zone in.
Many times, we tend to work or study with music in the background. While this may be a distraction to many, if you are listening to music while concentrating on another task, it’s best to stick to music that is slow paced and instrumental, so it doesn’t interfere with your processing of the task at hand. In fact, there is now a lot of research on how certain forms of Indian and Western classical music can help enhance focus as well as memory. Given how our body and mind respond to music, the kind of music we listen to can help us psych-down, that is, feel more relaxed and calmer, or psych-up, that is, feel more alert, more active, and more excited. In this way, music can also be a great boost to our motivation. And then of course, music can help bring people together – be it a group of friends, a team, a country, and in those rare occasions, even the whole world.
