Music interacts with your brain in a unique way. It causes
your brain to produce certain neurochemicals that lead you to experience
emotions.
How can you use music to help your brain activity? There are
many unanswered questions about our mind, but music is pretty well researched.
Here are a few effects of music on the brain:
1. Music you really
like for creativity
It’s not a groundbreaking discovery that we like music.
However, now that neuroscience has become popular and draws more and more
funding, we know the reason why we like music.
One of the most remarkable effects of music on the brain is
that stimulates the release of dopamine, which is a brain mediator that lifts
your spirit. You get some dopamine from eating good food or getting your salary
on the payday. And you get a lot of dopamine from doing cocaine.
Let’s say, music is a safe middle ground between the two. We
produce 9% more dopamine from the music we particularly like.
What does that have to do with creativity? There’s evidence
that dopamine helps the creative effort. The exact mechanism is the subject of
debate, but scientists are pretty unanimous on the effects of music on the
brain. If you listen to music you really like, you may become more creative.
2. Ambient for
creativity
Have you ever had a hard time studying or working when it’s
too loud around you? Noisy colleagues can distract quite a lot. But the
opposite is true too. Complete silence can be hard to work with.
The solution? Listening to ambient noise. The evidence
suggests that moderate noise fosters creativity.
The reason this works is that you are on the optimal level of
stimulation when you’re listening to ambient noise. Make the music too loud and
too fast, and you’re hyperstimulated. At the same time, complete silence makes
your brain bored.
Ambient makes it ready to get creative. The effects of music
on the brain do not end with creativity, however.
3. Dubstep for exercise
Did you ever feel more energetic while listening to music?
That’s because there’s a scientific reason behind this.
When you listen to fast music during exercise, you perform
better. This study shows that athletes needed less oxygen to do the workout.
The difference was only 7%, but it still demonstrates the effectiveness of
music.
Your brain gets overwhelmed with stress when you’re exercising,
especially if it’s a high-intensity training. What music does is to shift the
focus from how hard the exercise is.
The optimal tempo for exercise is 145 BPM, which is exactly
the tempo of many Dubstep tracks. Music that is faster than that doesn’t produce
more stimulation.
If you’re going for a jog or are planning to hit it hard at
the gym, dubstep or any fast music can help you perform better.
4. Classical music for
attention
Whether you study or work, you need concentration to help you
perform your daily tasks.
One of the effects of music on the brain gives you just that.
A Stanford study found that people who were listening to classical music scored
higher on the attention tests. The results of the group who were performing the
test in silence were significantly worse off.
This means you don’t have to seek an assignment help and can
just blast Rachmaninoff or Bach when you need to focus. However, this effect of
classical music on the brain’s ability to focus may be due to the absence of
words, not just some kind of intrinsic quality that other music genres lack.
Some studies show that any type of background music without lyrics increases
your concentration.
5. Classical music for
memory
Classical music is also good for memory, this University of
Tennessee study finds. Rap music was compared to classics during a memory test.
The results showed that rap music listeners scored less on average.
Again, this finding may be extrapolated to all music that
doesn’t have lyrics.
6. Music you love for
long-term memory
The music builds powerful emotional connections in our brain.
Whenever you hear a song that you listened to in childhood, you may relive the
time when you first heard it.
These effects of music on the brain are even more pronounced
in dementia patients. This non-profit suggests music can help Alzheimer’s
patients stay more mentally alert and prevents delirium.
You can try to use this remarkable feature of music when
preparing for an exam. Listen to a track while reading the textbook. Then
listen to it right before an exam to freshen up the memory.
7. Metal for anger
issues
Metal music is for angry people, right? Well, it turns out
that it is right. This study says people with anger issues can benefit from
metal music because it makes them calmer.
Try listening to a metal band when you feel angry or
depressed. Science says it’s going to help you calm down and feel better.
The amazing effects of music on the brain
Join our
Free Music Therapies for kids. Thousands of kids have transformated their learninig
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Music is a unique tool in our arsenal. While it’s not the
ultimate solution for everything, it can help you in many situations. There are
times when you need that 20% boost in creativity. When you need that, play your
favorite track and be ready to get more productive and creative!