No matter what tunes you love the most, listening to music to support your mental health is a fantastic idea. It has been scientifically measured for boosting mood and making it easier to cope with challenging emotions. Regardless of whether you’re into pop, country, classical or hip hop, as long as you’re enjoying what you hear, it can make a difference you’ll notice.
Why Use Music to Support Your Mental Health
Using music to support your mental health isn’t anything complicated. It is a matter of listening to songs that make you feel better. It doesn’t matter specifically what those songs are, provided that the feeling they give you is better than the one you already had. It should uplift, inspire, or recharge you, for instance.
It’s widely accepted that creating and listening to songs have a spectrum of positive benefits for mood and that music can support your mental health overall. It can:
- Boost your mood and motivation
- Relax and ease you
- Boost your thinking efficiency and focus
How to Get the Most Out of Your Tunes
Knowing how to use music to support your mental health is as easy as hitting the play button or starting to sing. For more specific or targeted purposes, consider the following ways to use it.
Ways Music Can Support Your Mental Health
- Focus – Instrumental music can be fantastic for aiding in focus when you want to work, study, or just pay attention more effectively. Research has shown that the best tunes for this purpose usually have a tempo of about 60 beats per minute. This boosts the brain’s information processing efficiency. These are the types of songs to play in the background at a soft volume as you complete various tasks throughout your day.
- Self expression – When you find it difficult to talk about or share your emotions, or you’re just not ready to say them out loud, looking to songs can be very helpful. This can include listening to something that reflects your mood. That said, many people find that crating their own music can help them to process and express their emotions. You don’t need to share your song with anyone unless you want to. Just getting it out there for yourself can make a difference.
- Motivation – When you need something to get you up and moving, to start your day, to begin your workout, or to charge you up to face a difficult task, the right song can put you in the perfect mindset to be at your best, ready to face the world.
- Social connection – Singing with a song, sharing a playlist or a newly discovered favorite tune with friends, or listening to a song with someone else is a powerful way for music to support mental health. Song connects people.
- Relaxation – The right songs can help your mind to relax and can have impacts on relaxing your body as well. Soothing, comforting, and calming songs are wonderful ways to take advantage of the ways music can support mental health.
Recent Comments