Enjoy Music for Good Health

Music could be one of the exciting ways to maintain healthy being. Engaging in music listening is quite simple, convenient and effective to reduce stress and conjure positive emotions.

In a psychology thesis at University of Gothenburg, Marie Helsing studied health behaviour of 207 individuals. In the observed group, 21 individuals engaged in self-chosen music listening for the least of 30 minutes for two weeks. Rest of the subjects chose to relax without music. It was observed that positive emotions were frequent in music listening group. The music connection trailed non-listener on conjuring positive0 emotions, which proved the only difference affecting healthy being of the two.

Music listening group had significantly less stress level, which was quite evident owing to the lower level of the stress hormone cortisol. A consistent pattern was observed in the comparative study; more the liking for music less is the stress. Earlier researches also revealed positives of listening music received by patients recovering from stroke other cognitive recovery. Some other researches also underlined importance of music to streamline brain functions.

Author of the thesis Marie Helsing also highlighted the point that studying emotional responses is not solely responsible for healthy living. There are several other factors that are stress busters, proving equally or more effective than music. Therefore, drawing any conclusion on this basis is not fool-proof. Listening to music could be one of the factors among many that individuals respond in order to evoke emotions to counter stress. In order to derive maximum positive out of music, one has to listen to the music one loves.