If you love listening to music, you’re in good
company. Charles Darwin once remarked, “If I had
my life to live over again, I would have made a rule
to read some poetry and listen to some music at
least once every week.” Albert Einstein declared, “If
I were not a physicist, I would probably be a
musician.” Jimi Hendrix called music his “religion.”
I’ve always been in awe of people who can sing
and play guitar. As a young girl, I secretly listened
to singer-songwriter music in my bedroom into the
wee hours. As a rebellious teenager, I cranked rock
‘n’ roll in the house whenever I had to do chores. I
always felt great afterwards – now I know why.
Recent research shows that listening to music
improves our mental well-being and boosts our
physical health in surprising and astonishing ways.
If we take a music lesson or two, that musical
training can help raise our IQs and even keep us
sharp in old age. Here are 15 amazing
scientifically-proven benefits of being hooked on
music.
1. Music Makes You Happier
“I don’t sing because I’m happy; I’m happy because
I sing.” – William James
Research proves that when you listen to music you
like, your brain releases dopamine, a “feel-good”
neurotransmitter. Valorie Salimpoor, a
neuroscientist at McGill University, injected eight
music-lovers with a radioactive substance that
binds to dopamine receptors after they listened to
their favorite music. A PET scan showed that large
amounts of dopamine were released, which
biologically caused the participants to feel
emotions like happiness, excitement, and joy.
So the next time you need an emotional boost,
listen to your favorite tunes for 15 minutes. That’s
all it takes to get a natural high!
2. Music Enhances RunningPerformance
“If people take anything from my music, it should
be motivation to know that anything is possible as
long as you keep working at it and don’t back
down.” – Eminem
Marcelo Biglia$$i and his colleagues found that
runners who listened to fast or slow motivational
music completed the first 800 meters of their run
faster than runners who listened to calm music or
ran without music. If you want to take your running
up a notch, listen to songs that inspire you.
3. Music Lowers Stress and Improves Health
“I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive
expression of humanity. It’s something we are all
touched by. No matter what culture we’re from.” –
Billy Joel
Listening to music you enjoy decreases levels of
the stress hormone cortisol in your body, which
counteracts the effects of chronic stress. This is an
important finding since stress causes 60% of all our
illnesses and disease. One study showed that if
people actively participated in making music by
playing various percussion instruments and
singing, their immune system was boosted even
more than if they pa$$ively listened.
To stay calm and healthy during a stressful day,
turn on the radio. Be sure to sing along and tap
your feet to the beat to get the maximum healing
benefit.
4. Music Helps You Sleep Better
“Music washes away from the soul the dust of
everyday life.” – Berthold Auerbach
Over 30% of Americans suffer from insomnia. A
study showed that students who listened to
relaxing cla$$ical music for 45 minutes before
turning in slept significantly better than students
who listened to an audiobook or did nothing
different from their normal routine. If you’re having
trouble sleeping, try listening to a little Bach or
Mozart before bedtime to catch some Zs.
5. Music Reduces Depression
“Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space
between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.”
– Maya Angelou
More than 350 million people suffer from depression
around the world. A whopping 90% of them also
experience insomnia. The sleep research above
found that symptoms of depression decreased
significantly in the group that listened to cla$$ical
music before bedtime, but not in the other two
groups. Another study by Hans Joachim Trappe in
Germany also demonstrated that music can benefit
patients with depressive symptoms, depending on
the type of music. Meditative sounds and cla$$ical
music lifted people up, but techno and heavy metal
brought people down even more.
The next time you feel low, put on some cla$$ical
or meditative music to lift your spirits.
6. Music Helps You Eat Less
“There’s a friendly tie of some sort between music
and eating.” – Thomas Hardy
Research at Georgia Tech University showed that
softening the lighting and music while people ate
led them to consume fewer calories and enjoy their
meals more. If you’re looking for ways to curb your
appetite, try dimming the lights and listening to
soft music the next time you sit down for a meal.
7. Music Elevates Your Mood While Driving
“That’s what I love. Not being interrupted, sitting
in the car by myself listening to music in the rain.
There are so many great songs yet to sing.” –
Alison Kraus
A study in the Netherlands found that listening to
music can positively impact your mood while
driving, which can lead to safer behavior than not
listening to music. The next time you feel
frustrated in traffic, turn up the tunes to improve
your state of mind. It won’t hurt your driving
performance – it may even help you drive more
safely.
8. Music Strengthens Learning and Memory
“Music is the language of memory.” – Jodi Picoult
Researchers discovered that music can help you
learn and recall information better, but it depends
on how much you like the music and whether or
not you’re a musician. Subjects memorized
Japanese characters while listening to music that
either seemed positive or neutral to them. The
results showed that participants who were
musicians learned better with neutral music but
tested better when pleasurable music was playing.
Non-musicians, on the other hand, learned better
with positive music but tested better with neutral
music.
Memorize these results. You now have a strategy
to study more effectively for your next test.
9. Music Relaxes Patients Before/After Surgery
“He who sings scares away his woes.” – Miguel de
Cervantes
Researchers found that listening to relaxing music
before surgery decreases anxiety. In fact it’s even
more effective than being or*lly administered
Midazolam, a medication often used to help pre-op
patients feel sleepy that also has gnarly side
effects such as coughing and vomiting. Other
studies showed that listening to soothing music
while resting in bed after open heart surgery
increases relaxation.
Globally, 234 million major surgeries are performed
each year. If you or someone you know is going
into surgery, be sure to bring some soothing tunes
to ease anxiety. It may work better, and will
certainly have fewer adverse side effects, than the
meds they dispense.
10. Music Reduces Pain
“One good thing about music, when it hits you,
you feel no pain.” – Bob Marely
Research at Drexel University in Philadelphia found
that music therapy and pre-recorded music
reduced pain more than standard treatments in
cancer patients. Other research showed that music
can decrease pain in intensive care patients and
geriatric care patients, but the selection needed to
be either cla$$ical pieces, meditative music, or
songs of the patient’s choosing.
Bob Marely was right about this one – listen to
music you love to take your pain away.
11. Music Helps Alzheimer’s Patients Remember
“The past, which is not recoverable in any other
way, is embedded, as if in amber, in the music, and
people can regain a sense of identity.” – Oliver
Sacks, M.D.
A non-profit organization called Music & Memory
helps people with Alzheimer’s Disease and other
age-related dementias remember who they are by
having them listen to their dearest songs. The
awakening is often dramatic. For example, after
Henry listens to music from his era, this
wheelchair-bound dementia sufferer who can
barely speak sings Cab Calloway songs and
happily reminisces about his life .
Dr. Laura Mosqueda, Director of Geriatrics at the
University of California at the Irvine School of
Medicine, explains that because music affects so
many areas of the brain, it stimulates pathways
that may still be healthy.
One in three seniors die with Alzheimer’s Disease
or another dementia, so odds are you know
someone who has it. To connect with loved ones
who suffer from age-related dementia, try playing
some of their best-loved music.
12. Music Improves Recovery in Stroke Patients
“I know why the caged bird sings.” – Maya
Angelou
Research at the University of Helsinki showed that
stroke patients who listened to music they chose
themselves for two hours a day had significantly
improved recovery of cognitive function compared
to those who listened to audio books or were given
no listening material. Most of the music contained
lyrics, which suggests that it’s the combination of
music and voice that bolstered the patients’
auditory and verbal memory.
Stroke is the number 5 cause of death in the United
States. If you know someone who has suffered a
stroke, bring their favorite songs as soon as you
can. Listening to them can significantly ramp up
their recuperation.
13. Music Increases Verbal Intelligence
“Music is to the soul what words are to the mind.”
– Modest Mouse
After only one month of music lessons (in rhythm,
pitch, melody and voice), a study at York University
showed that 90% of children between the ages of 4
and 6 had a significant increase in verbal
intelligence. Researcher Sylvain Moreno suggests
that the music training had a “transfer effect”
which enhanced the children’s ability to
understand words and explain their meaning. Other
research found that musically trained adult women
and musically trained children outperformed those
without music training on verbal memory tests.
No matter whether you’re an adult or a child, if you
want to boost your verbal skills, try taking music
lessons!
14. Music Raises IQ and Academic Performance
“Music can change the world because it can
change people.” – Bono
Research shows that taking music lessons predicts
higher academic performance and IQ in young
children. In one study, 6-year-olds who took
keyboard or singing lessons in small groups for 36
weeks had significantly larger increases in IQ and
standardized educational test results than children
who took either drama lessons or no lessons. The
singing group did the best.
To help your children achieve academic excellence,
encourage them to sing or learn to play an
instrument.
15. Music Keeps Your Brain Healthy in Old Age
“Music is the true breath of life. We eat so we
won’t starve to death. We sing so we can hear
ourselves live.” – Yasmina Khadra
A study with healthy older adults found that those
with ten or more years of musical experience
scored higher on cognitive tests than musicians
with one to nine years of musical study. The non-
musicians scored the lowest. “Since studying an
instrument requires years of practice and learning,
it may create alternate connections in the brain
that could compensate for cognitive declines as we
get older,” says lead researcher Brenda Hanna-
Pladdy.
Business magnate Warren Buffet stays sharp at age
84 by playing ukulele. It’s never too late to play an
instrument to keep you on top of your game.
Plato had it right when he said, “Music and rhythm
find their way into the secret places of the soul.”
No matter whether you’re young or old, healthy or
sick, happy or sad, music can improve the quality
of your life in numerous ways. It reduces stress and
anxiety, lifts your mood, boosts your health, helps
you sleep better, takes away your pain, and even
makes you smarter.
New research shows that music “can communicate
basic human feelings regardless of the listener’s
cultural and ethnic background.” We’ve only just
begun to understand all the ways this universal
language can profit the world. Rather than cut
funds for music and art programs in schools, why
not invest in exploring all the secret places that
music reaches so that we may continue to reap its
amazing benefits?
