Music therapy: It’s no secret that stress can affect our mental and physical health. It’s been linked to everything from heart disease to acne. So, finding ways to reduce stress in our lives is essential.

One way that many people don’t think of is music therapy. Believe it or not, listening to or playing music can help reduce stress levels and improve overall well-being. Here are four ways that music therapy can help you live a less stressed life:

1. Music therapy can help lower blood pressure

High blood pressure is a common condition that can lead to serious health problems like heart disease and stroke. Music therapy has been shown to help lower blood pressure by relaxing the body and mind.

2. Music therapy can improve sleep quality

If you’re struggling with stress, you’re likely also struggling to get a good night’s sleep. Luckily, music therapy can help with that too. Listening to calming music before bed can help you fall asleep faster and sleep more soundly throughout the night.

3. Music therapy can boost your mood

When stressed, it’s easy to get caught in a negative mindset. But music therapy can help break that cycle by boosting your mood and giving you a more positive outlook on life.

4. Music therapy can reduce anxiety

Anxiety is another common side effect of stress. Luckily, music therapy is an effective treatment for anxiety. Whether listening to calming music or actively playing an instrument, music therapy can help you relax and reduce your anxiety.

So next time you’re stressed, try incorporating music therapy into your life. It might be the key to reducing stress and improving your overall health.

What is music therapy?

Music therapy uses a person’s musical reactions and connections to improve happiness and well-being. Music therapy might involve singing, playing instruments, dancing, or listening.

Music influences thought. Music may instantly change a person’s mood and make them feel a wide range of emotions, from happiness to enthusiasm, melancholy, tranquillity, and thinking.

Music therapy allows people to produce their therapeutic music actively.

Music therapy harnesses music’s healing powers. It replaces counseling and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

Music therapists employ music reactions and connections to improve mood and mental health. Music therapy might involve listening to or playing instruments. It might entail singing or dancing.

It improves confidence, communication, independence, self-awareness, and awareness of others, focus, and attentiveness.

Music therapy requires live interaction between therapist and patient.

Music therapy involves improvisation. This includes improvising music to fit a mood or subject, such as utilizing drums and a rainstick to simulate a storm.

Music and the brain

Music influences the brain complexly. The brain processes pitch, pace, and melody separately. The cerebellum handles rhythm, the frontal lobes decipher music’s emotional impulses, and a little piece of the right temporal lobe understands pitch. Hearing intense music can give the brain’s reward region, the nucleus accumbens, goosebumps. Music therapy can leverage these serious bodily reactions to aid mental health patients.

 Origins of music therapy

Humans have made music for millennia. Experts have uncovered instruments from almost 40,000 years ago, indicating that humans have always used music to express themselves.

After World War II, music was used therapeutically. By the 1940s, institutions offered music therapy degrees based on medical studies from the 1800s. Thayer Gaston, one of three persons who pioneered music therapy, structured and pushed it to make it mainstream.

Types of music therapy

There are three main types of music therapy: active, receptive, and analytical. Active music therapy requires the patient to be involved in making music. Receptive music therapy entails listening to music. Analytical music therapy uses both approaches and may also include discussions about the music.

1. Active music therapy: The patient is actively involved in making music. This might involve playing an instrument, singing, or moving to the beat.
2. Receptive music therapy: The patient listens to music and is usually passive. They may be asked to imagine scenes or tell stories related to the music.
3. Analytical music therapy: This therapy uses both active and receptive approaches. The therapist will also discuss the music with the patient and help them to understand any emotions they feel.

Benefits of music therapy

Music therapy has benefits for mental and physical health. It can help with relaxation, sleep, pain relief, and blood pressure. It also alleviates anxiety and depression and improves mood, self-esteem, and memory. Music therapy assists in social skills, communication, focus, and teamwork.

Music therapy is especially effective when incorporated with other treatments like CBT. It also works well for children and the elderly.

1. Music therapy is suitable for non-verbal persons. Disability, dementia, brain damage, or mental illness may cause this.
2. CBT and counseling are talking therapies. Thus, persons who struggle with verbal communication may not benefit. Music therapy can help.
3. If a patient is bedridden or unable to travel, mental health professionals can bring music therapy to them.
4. Music therapy skills may be used daily.  Mental health patients can even study an instrument as a pastime to improve their mental health and cope with stressful conditions.
5. Music helps increase memory, coordination, reading, understanding, math, and responsibility.
6. Creating music may also boost self-esteem and mood.
7. Music therapy lets clients explore every genre and culture. People may connect with music by learning its history.
8. Music therapy can be more fun for conveying complicated feelings than spoken therapy.
9. Lyric analysis is another straightforward approach to process challenging emotions, experiences, and memories via music.
10. A person can identify themes and meanings in songs and propose alternative lyrics that pertain to their lives and experiences to assist them in explaining how they feel if they are having trouble doing so.
11. Music therapy may also lower anxiety soon after the session, making it a practical option for treating symptoms.
12. Music reduces stress chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol, alleviating anxiety.
13. Music therapy combined with regular depression therapies like talking therapy may relieve depression symptoms more than standard therapy alone.
14. Music releases dopamine and endorphins, which boost mood and reduce pain.
15. Music therapy helps reduce sadness, anxiety, and other mental health issues.

  How does music therapy work?

Music therapy can work in several ways. It can provide a distraction from intrusive thoughts, help people to relax, or allow them to express emotions they find difficult to put into words. Music therapy can also be used to increase confidence and self-esteem, improve communication, and boost mood.

 Music therapy can be used to:

• Relieve anxiety and stress
• Boost mood
• Improve communication
• Enhance self-esteem
• Improve memory
• Help with pain management
• Assist with sleep issues

Conclusion

Music therapy is a beneficial form of treatment for mental and physical health. It can relieve anxiety and stress, boost mood, improve communication, and enhance self-esteem. Music therapy can also help with pain management, sleep issues, and memory.  Music therapy is especially effective when incorporated with other treatments like CBT. It is also suitable for non-verbal persons and can be used to lower anxiety soon after the session. Music therapy skills may be used daily and mental health patients can even study an instrument as a pastime to improve their mental health and cope with stressful conditions. Music therapy is an evidence-based and cost-effective treatment that should be considered for mental and physical health.

If you are struggling with mental or physical health, consider music therapy as a potential treatment option.