As Plato said, “music is to the soul what gymnastics is to the body”. Music is part of our lives and is as important as other areas of it. Even if someone is not particularly a music lover, the truth is that everyone has a song that reminds them of something, means something important or excites them, and that is that music accompanies us throughout our lives: from the lullabies of our childhood to the first dance on your wedding day.
The benefits of music are many, perhaps the most significant are:
- Improves mood. Music makes us feel more optimistic.
- It develops the brain. It improves the development of the brain and intellectual abilities of people who have had mental health problems.
- Reduce stress. Listening to music has been shown to reduce anxiety and therefore our blood pressure.
- Good for headaches. Despite what you may think, listening to instrumental music at a low volume helps people with migraines.
- Improves memory and concentration. With music we concentrate more, our memory is better and so is our learning. In fact, music therapy is one of the most widely used techniques in the treatment of people with attention disorders.
- It helps us sleep. Several recent studies have shown that it is true that listening to music helps us sleep more and better.
This last point is what we are going to take care of. A study carried out by the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing has shown that listening to soft music helps people sleep more and better, especially in older people. Not only baby lullabies are effective, but also older babies can benefit from music therapy.
It is known that more than 50% of people over 65 years of age have problems falling asleep, this may be due to the fact that they have less physical activity, so they get less tired. In the study, older people who listened to 45 minutes of music experienced a relaxation in their breathing and heart rate that helped them sleep better.
Classical music is the most recommended for sleep, as its gentle rhythm reduces the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, decreases anxiety, blood pressure, and heart and respiratory rate. But not only classical music helps you sleep, within genres such as pop or rock we find very relaxing songs.
The most relaxing song? It’s called “Weightless”, by an English trio called Marconi Union. Its members worked in collaboration with therapists to create a song that scientifically slowed down breathing and relaxed.
Among other modern singers whose music relaxes (which does not bore, which are two different things) are: Adele, James Blunt, Celine Dion, Evanescence, Bob Marley, Coldplay, Pink Floyd… for different tastes!
And you, what music do you listen to to relax?
