Who doesn’t enjoy listening to music? There’s something for everyone with styles from classical and folk to house, trance and heavy metal.
However, the benefits of music go far beyond it being a fun pastime. Listening to it can have a positive impact on your whole life and career. Here’s what music can do for you:
1. Reduce your stress levels
Research reveals that listening to music triggers biochemical stress reducers in your body. We don’t perform well when we are stressed, so being able to beat it can play a key role in our success.
2. Elevate your mood
Who doesn’t feel happy after listening to a bit of ‘Walking on Sunshine’? Music helps to put us in a better mood and allows us to be more in touch with our feelings. The emotions that music stimulates also has a positive effect on our blood vessel function and an increase in blood flow makes us feel happier!
Positive people are generally more successful, so let music bring more positivity to your life. Your morning commute is the perfect time to listen to something upbeat that will put you in a good mood to last the whole day.
3. Improve your sleep quality
We all need sleep to function properly during our busy days at work. The National Sleep Foundation [https://sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need] recommends that adults need 7-9 hours sleep every night. Some heavy metal before bed probably isn’t going to do much for your sleep quality, however listening to classical music could! Classical music has effectively been used to treat insomnia in students.
4. Help you eat less
Fed up of trying diets, but still want to get into shape? Music could be the answer! One study has found that listening to soft music (and dimming the lights) during meal times can cause us to eat more slowly. Eating slower gives more time for our stomach to let our brain know that we are full. Your brain takes around 20 minutes to recognise these chemicals and think how much extra food you can consume in that time!
5. Help you perform better under pressure
Have you ever noticed that Olympic swimmers often wear headphones before a race? In fact, many athletes use music as a way of getting their head in the game. One study found that basketball players who listened to upbeat music before a game were more successful when it came to high-pressure shooting. Perhaps you could give this tactic a go before your next big meeting or presentation.
6. Make you more intelligent
Who wouldn’t want to be more intelligent? In her TED Talk, Jessica Grahn discusses the impact of music on our cognitive performance. Studies have found that listening to music before taking a test has a positive impact on the test results. However, this may be less to do with music and more to do with the enhanced mood that music puts us in. See her full talk below:
Are you making the most of the benefits that music can offer? If not, be sure to introduce more musical moments to your day.
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