Music for a Better Life

Music is sometimes called the universal language. Regardless of a person’s primary language, the vibrations in music can stir us, elicit similar reactions in people who speak different languages. Music can unite us and unity is what we need in this world, a world of the human race. Let’s explore music for a better life.

For the Love of Music

Perhaps you have noticed that I pepper the posts with music. I love music. Music has given me so much.

Apparently, I am not unique in this love of music. Human beings across the ages have created and performed and listened to music. We are a musical species. We share music. We experience emotions in relationship with music.

Music and Learning

Music positively impacts child development and academic performance. Take a moment to read the articles by Lia Peralta and by Cogo-Moreira and colleagues.

Music Impacts Mental Health

How does music affect mental health? Through a myriad of ways.

Listening to music affects our mental health. Recall the TEDTalk by Indre Viskonstas. Aiie. Anticipation before the high note. Dopamine involvement: need I say more.

Performing music has benefits as well.

Let’s take singing as an example. Deep breathing to massage the vagus nerve and calm the nervous system. Not to mention the mindfulness of being in the moment, singing, immersed in a story apart from your little world of stress yet perhaps akin to your little world.

The neuroscience of singing and performing music is not a figment of my imagination. Take a gander at David Levitin’s This is Your Brain on Music. You will not be disappointed.

Take a listen to the interview with Levitin about his new book, I Heard There Was a Secret Chord. Then listen to the wise words of Leonard Cohen as sung by K.D. Lang:

Hallelujah

A win-win situation. Our learning and our emotional wellbeing are enhanced.

Dealing with Stress

Music offers us help to cope with stress. Listening to music. Composing music. Performing music. Sharing music.

The vagus nerve is implicated in stress and the management of stress as well as in the practice of singing, the performance of music, the listening to music.

Aside from my previous posts which have explored options to address our mental wellbeing, I would like to direct you to a concise and neuroscientifically sound podcast on stress and managing stress. Andrew Cooper-Sansone recently published a podcast on his Sense of Mind channel. Take a listen:

The Neuroscience of Stress + 5 Strategies to Manage It

I really have nothing further to say. Cooper-Sansone has captured everything I have tried to share in previous posts.

Except the importance of music in life.

Take-aways: Music for a Better Life

Music benefits our lives. Stress management techniques can include experiencing music, as a listener, as a performer, as a composer.

Music is a universal language to unite us, the human race, to effect changes to improve our world.

I leave it to my nursing colleague, Mark Mastroianni, to convince you. Take a listen:

Mark Mastroianni performing his original composition: A Circle Has No Sides

Peace be with all of us. That is certain to alleviate our stress, eh?

Be well. Be safe. Be kind.

Selected References:

Cogo-Moreira, H., Brandão-de Ávila, C.R., Ploubidis, G.B., and de Jesus Mari, J. (March 27, 2013). Effectiveness of Music Education for the Improvement of Reading Skills and Academic Achievement in Young Poor Readers: A Pragmatic Cluster-Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial. PLoS One, 8(3): e59984. Accessed online on December 1, 2024, at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3609825/

Cooper-Sansone, A. (November 29, 2024). The Neuroscience of Stress + 5 Strategies to Manage It. Sense of Mind. Accessed online on December 1, 2024, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfvlEtO0XxU

KATU Lifestyle. (September 9, 2024). Daniel Levitin Explores Music as Medicine in “I Heard There Was a Secret Chord”. Accessed online on December 1, 2024, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb1P0PEz5GA

Levitin, D.J. (2007). This is Your Brain on Music. The Science of a Human Obsession.

McGill Newsroom Institutional Communications. (November 21, 2019). Human song is universal. McGill University. Accessed online on December 1, 2024, at https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/human-song-universal-302755

Paturel, A. (March 21, 2024). Bolster Your Brain by Stimulating the Vagus Nerve. Cedars-Sinai.org. Accessed online on December 1, 2024, at https://www.cedars-sinai.org/blog/stimulating-the-vagus-nerve.html

Peralta, L. (April 4, 2018). Benefits of Music to the Brain. Save the Music Foundation. Accessed online on December 1, 2024, at https://www.savethemusic.org/blog/research/benefits-to-the-brain/

Viskonstas, I. (November 1, 2016). How music makes me a better neuroscientist. TEDx San Francisco. Accessed online on November 24, 2024, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJYRJ92g4GI

Women’s Health Tasmania. (July 6, 2023). Your Vagus Nerve and how singing can make you feel better. Womenshealthtas.org.au Accessed online on December 1, 2024, at https://www.womenshealthtas.org.au/blog/your-vagus-nerve-and-how-singing-can-make-you-feel-better

Disclaimer: The content of this post is not meant to substitute for a consultation with your healthcare professional team.

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