Odds are you’ve felt stressed lately, between the pandemic, work burnout, social anxiety and more. But you’re not alone: About a fifth of American adults report high levels of psychological distress due to the pandemic and its impact on their physical, emotional and financial health, according to 2021 data from Pew Research Center.
But what is stress, exactly? On a biological level, your body responds to stressful situations by releasing hormones like cortisol, says Tim Ringgold, M.T.-B.C., a music therapist with New Method Wellness and the author of Sonic Recovery: Harness the Power of Music to Stay Sober. In physically threatening situations, like if you’re being chased by an angry bear, cortisol is helpful: It triggers a fight or flight response in your nervous system to help you escape the bear in one piece. But in the case of socio-emotional threats like work burnout, a breakup, or an ongoing pandemic, your body releases those stress hormones chronically. Ringgold explains that excess cortisol not only makes you feel anxious mentally, but can also lead to physical problems like excessive inflammation and compromised immune system function.
Interestingly, music can help mitigate these effects and help keep stress and anxiety in check. Studies have found that listening to music can help calm your nervous system and lower cortisol levels, both of which can help reduce stress. And the same goes for making music; research shows that creating can help release emotion, decrease anxiety and improve overall mental health.
1. Music Triggers Pleasure
Excess cortisol fuels your stress levels, and music can help keep them in check. Research shows that cortisol production decreases when you listen to music, which Ringgold says can help take the edge off of that fight-or-flight response.
Music also helps boost feel-good chemicals in your brain. “When we listen to music, or we make music, the reward center of our brain releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with reward and motivation,” says Ringgold. “This pleasure response is our brain’s way of saying, ‘Do that again!’”
2. Music Takes Your Nervous System Down a Beat
Not only can music calm your nervous system via your hormones, but it can also help ease stress by influencing your biological processes. For instance, the tempo of the music you’re listening to can automatically slow down or speed up your heart rate, blood pressure and breathing, says Ringgold. That’s why he recommends listening to slow music (60 to 80 BPM) if you’re feeling anxious: The relaxed tempo will help moderate your body’s functioning to bring you down from that heightened nervous state. “The brain releases pleasure chemicals, and the body slows its rhythms,” he notes. “It’s like a two for one.”
3. Music Is an Emotional Release
Creating music can be an effective way to express compressed energy or emotions, says Ringgold. This is especially important when you’re experiencing a prolonged fight-or-flight state, which can cause uncomfortable symptoms like a fast heart rate, tense muscles and sweating. When stress can’t be expressed solely through language, explains Ringgold, the physical and mental act of making music can allow you to get those feelings out of your body and mind.
4. Music Grounds You in the Present
Stress is often the result of ruminating over something that’s happened in the past or worrying about the future, both of which can make you feel like you lack control, says Ringgold. How do you get that feeling of control back? He suggests moving to the music, whether that’s literally dancing or just tapping, snapping or clapping along to the beat.
“The mind prefers to focus on situations where it has some semblance of control,” he explains. “The only place in time this occurs is in the present because that is where our bodies are, and we at least have some control over our bodies.”
5. Music Distracts from Stressors
While grounding yourself in the present moment can be a helpful way to overcome anxiety about the past or future, it might not feel so good if the source of your stress is happening in the here and now. But popping on a playlist can help, says Ringgold. “Because music cognition is so complex for the human brain, it offers an easy distraction or diversion from any competing internal or external stress stimuli,” he explains. “Since music triggers a pleasure response, our brain is all too happy to focus on a music signal to the exclusion of anything else.”
Why? Ringgold says music gives you a closed-ended respite from the present moment, meaning the song or album you’re listening to has a straightforward beginning and end. That stands in contrast to other, more stress-provoking forms of distraction like social media, where there’s no limit to the content.
6. Music Fosters Creativity
When you’re stressed, your nervous system shifts out of creative mode and into reactive mode to either fight or flee a perceived threat. Creating music coerces your nervous system to reset back to its default “rest-and-digest” mode, which Ringgold says allows for relaxation, clarity, and creativity.
7. Music Facilitates Connection
Isolation has been a major source of stress for many during the pandemic. Creating and listening to music can help combat some of that loneliness-induced anxiety, Ringgold says. This can be as simple as enjoying music alongside strangers at a concert, or as involved as forming a relationship with a new collaborator to create music together.“When we play music alone, we connect to the music,” Ringgold says. “When we play music with others, we connect to them by proxy. One voice, one melody, one rhythm, all connected in the present moment.”
By Kathleen Ferraro
Additionally, listening to music can also increase the release of endorphins in the brain, which can help to reduce feelings of pain and improve overall mood. One study found that listening to music for just 30 minutes a day for two weeks can lead to significant reductions in symptoms of depression and anxiety.
HPS Magazine 